CORRUPTION  OF  THE  CITY  GOVERNMENT. 


FROM  THE 

NEW  YORK  JOURNAL  OF  COMMERCE, 

OF 

A  Scries  of  Unanswered  and  Unanswerable  Editorials, 

SHOWING  DEEP  ABUSES  IN  THE 

NEW  YORK   CITY  GOVERNMENT. 

JggT    READ  AND  CIRCULATE.  ^Jgfl 

Taxes  for  1852   $3,380,511  05 

Taxes  for  1853   5,171,802  79 

Increase  for  this  year  $1,791,291  34 

(OVER  50  PER  CENT.  ;)  AND  THIS  IN  ADDITION  TO  A  LARGE 
INCREASE  IN  THE  PERMANENT  DEBT. 

WHO  PAYS  THE  TAXES  P 

Not  the  rich  man  who  owns.   No.   The  poor  man  who  hires    Whether  he  hire 
a  house,  room,  6hanty  or  lot,  when  the  taxes  are  increased,  the  owner  im- 
mediately adds  the  increased  tax  to  his  rent,  so  that  nearly  the  whole 
amount  of  two  millions  of  additional  tax  for  tbis  year  comes 
out  of  the  pockets  of  the  hard-working  men  of  the  city. 
R.  Let  every  poor  man  see  how  deeply  he  is  interest-  * 
-•*J7      ed  in  the  question  of  "  Reform  in  the  Cor- 
poration." 

"CORRUPTION  IS  THE  DEADLIEST  FOE  TO  LIBERTY." 


Saw  "S<D!R!S  8 
WM.  C.  BRYANT  &  CO.,  PRINTERS,  18  NASSAU  STREET 

1853. 

Ex  ICtbrts 


30     SEYMOUR  DURST 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


f 


httpV/archive.org/details/corruptionofcityQK®^ P ' 

\OURST1. 


REFORM  THE  COMMON  COUNCIL, 


CITY  REFORM. 

City  Reform. — "We  press  this  measure  now  upon  the  attention  of 
citizens,  because  the  Legislature,  -which  is  expected  to  take  part  in 
measures  of  relief,  -will  sit  but  one  hundred  days  from  the  opening 
of  the  session,  and  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider  the  subject  care- 
fully, to  prepare  measures  deliberately,  and  press  them  earnestly 
before  that  body.  It  is  a  subject  fit  to  engage  the  warm  exertions  of 
all  citizens ;  for  all  are  interested — the  poor  and  the  rich,  the  humble 
and  the  great — in  the  inestimable  boon  of  a  well-framed  government, 
wisely  administered.  The  duty  of  aiding  in  reform  at  this  moment 
— when  that  power  which  the  people  have  erected  for  public  and 
useful  purposes,  is  wielded  to  defeat  these  objects,  and  to  shield 
open  violation  of  law — devolves  on  every  citizen.  No  one  has  a  right 
to  shift  the  duty  over  upon  others.  No  effective  organization  is  now 
in  existence  ;  it  must  be  created.  "Who  will  take  part  in  it,  and  what 
*  shall  be  its  particular  duties  ?  The  first  branch  of  the  question  we 
leave  to  be  answered  by  our  readers.  Consider  whether  or  not  you 
have  taken  your  appropriate  part  in  keeping  the  ship  of  state  in  an 
onward,  steady,  straight  course  ;  whether  its  deviations  are  the  re- 
sult of  your  indifference,  or  belong  to  the  system  of  free  government, 
If  to  the  latter,  remedies  are  hopeless  ;  and  we  must  sink  down 
step  by  step,  to  that  condition  of  disgrace  when  a  despotic  arm  will 
be  welcomed  as  a  substitute  for  roguery.  The  general  tone  of  deep 
condemnation  uttered  every  where  but  in  the  Common  Council 
against  what  is  now  going  on,  is  proof  that  the  populace  are  yet 
pure  ;  that  the  general  sentiment  is  sound  ;  and  that  it  only  needs  to 
be  concentrated  to  a  point,  and  directed  properly,  in  order  to  reach 
the  object  in  view.  A  public  meeting  composed  of  the  best  citizens, 
selected  without  respect  to  party,  would  induce  the  Legislature  to 
carry  out  its  recommendation.  The  policy  of  giving  more  force  to 
the  veto  power  of  the  Mayor,  has  been  discussed.    He  is  an  officer 


selected  generally  with  more  care  than  is  bestowed  on  others,  and 
certainly  it  should  require  more  votes  to  pass  a  measure  after  a  veto 
than  before,  whereas  fewer  are  necessary.  The  policy  of  amending 
the  criminal  law  so  that  bribery  may  be  reached  and  punished,  by 
authorizing  the  District  Attorney  to  compel  witnesses  to  testify, 
(make  them  testify,  but  let  them  go  clear,)  by  taking  from  aldermen 
the  power  to  make  up  the  Grand  Jury  list,  (devolve  this  on  assessors,) 
and  by  giving  to  a  court  in  which  aldermen  do  not  preside  the  power 
to  try  aldermen :  the  policy  of  doing  this  has  been  presented  to  pub- 
lic consideration.  The  important  matter  to  be  done,  relates  to  the 
power  of  the  Common  Council.  They  are  now  Supervisors,  and  fix 
on  the  amount  of  tax,  for  authority  to  lay  which  application  is  made 
to  the  Legislature.  They  sit  also  as  a  Board  to  authorize  expendi- 
ture. They  have,  on  the  nomination  of  the  Mayor,  a  power  of  ap- 
pointment to  office,  They  preside  in  Criminal  Courts.  Here  is  a 
union  of  political,,  legislative  and  judicial  power.  The  union  of  all 
these  powers  in  a  single  person ;  the  compensation  awarded  for  ser- 
vice, (they  are  paid  as  Aldermen,  Judges,  Supervisors  and  Canvas- 
sers, and  sometimes  for  all  on  the  same  day,)  and  the  collateral  ad- 
vantages of  the  post,  have  placed  in  office  a  set  of  men,  who  have  gone 
there  for  emolument  and  political  patronage.  If  the  power  of  the  Board 
of  Supervisors  were  devolved  on  others,  those  others  would  have  power 
to  fix  on  the  aggregate  of  expenditure  for  the  year,  and  the  Alder- 
men would  determine  on  its  division  among  particular  subjects.  The 
duty  of  keeping  within  the  aggregate,  could  be  guarded  by  such  pro- 
visions as  would  enable  any  citizen  to  proceed  to  impeach  or  to  en- 
force a  personal  liability  against  offenders.  In  this  simple  arrange- 
ment, a  check  over  the  total  of  expenditure  is  presented.  A  check 
on  the  manner  of  its  distribution  should  be  provided  in  the  careful 
adjustment  of  the  veto  power.  With  these  arrangements  a  corrupt 
Common  Council  would  be  fettered — the  efficiency  of  an  honest  one 
would  not  be  impaired. 

The  next  question  is,  how  shall  this  Board  of  Supervisors  be  con- 
structed ?  If  it  shall  be  composed  of  men  of  the  same  character  as 
those  now  in  the  Common  Council,  there  would  be  three  badly  con- 
structed Boards  instead  of  two,  and  consequently  no  benefit  from  the 
tbird.  The  benefit  must  come  from  its  mode  of  construction.  As  it 
will  not  have  the  power  of  appointment,  or  the  power  to  vote  on 


5 


measures  of  legislation,  the  mere  politician  will  not  seek  it.  There 
is  a  chance  that  it  will  be  left  to  the  taxpayers.  They,  at  all  events, 
will  feel  deeply  interested  in  its  composition,  and  will  go  to  the  polls. 
Party  conventions  will  have  a  pride  in  nominating  for  it  the  best  citi- 
zens, as  they  seem  yet  to  have  in  nominations  for  our  higher  courts 
of  justice.  But  if  these  considerations  may  be  thought  to  be  un- 
sound, then  the  object  of  having  good  Supervisors  can  be  accom- 
plished in  the  mode  of  appointment.  It  would  subject  all  measures 
of  reform  to  the  danger  of  defeat,  to  iuterfere  with  the  qualifications 
of  voters.  A  property  qualification  will  be  regarded  with  odium, 
and  cannot  be  thought  of.  No  man  is  wise  in  reforms,  who  is  wiser 
than  his  time.  The  Board  should  not  be  large.  It  would  be  well 
constructed  to  consist  of,  say,  nine  persons  :  three  to  be  elected  from 
the  city  at  large,  three  by  the  Common  Council  on  the  nomination  of 
the  Mayor,  three  by  the  Governor  of  the  State.  It  must  be  recol- 
lected that  the  Governor  appoints  our  notaries,  our  port  wardens 
and  other  officers,  and  that  to  devolve  the  power  in  question  on  him, 
would  be  no  new  feature.  This  would  be  the  commencement  only 
of  reform ;  the  rest  would  certainly  follow.*  There  is  a  necessity  for 
immediate  measures,  as  a  check  on  present  expenditure  and  present 
corruption.  It  is  too  long  to  wait  for  another  general  election.  The 
odds  will  be  greatly  favorable  to  those  in  power,  if  the  tax  bill  ap- 
plied for — nearly  five  millions — be  granted,  without  in  any  manner 
fettering  the  authority  of  members.  In  whatever  tax  bill  is  passed, 
it  may  be  expedient  also  to  specify  the  subjects  of  expenditure,  or  to 
exclude  particular  subjects.  It  has  already  been  decided  by  the  Su- 
preme Court,  that  a  Board  of  the  character  of  ours,  has  no  power  to 
expend  for  junketings.  At  the  present  time,  a  public  man  of  much 
eminence  w»uld  feel  himself  disgraced  by  accepting  civilities  involv- 
ing expenditure,  from  the  present  Common  Council.  The  city  will 
perhaps  be  exempt  from  such  expenditures  ;  but  if  the  public  author- 
ities do  attempt  to  confer  honor  (?)  on  distinguished  men,  let  it  be 
done  without  the  necessity  for  increasing  the  taxes.  The  objection 
to  it  lies  chiefly  in  the  fact  that  it  is  use"d  as  an  occasion  for  defraud- 
ing the  public. 


*  After  the  corruptions  mentioned  in  the  following  articles  had  been  exposed,  other 
measures  of  reform  were  ehown  to  be  necessary,  which  are  spoken,  of  at  another 
page.  "  * 


6 


Citizens  of  New  York,  such  is  your  government !  Do  you  not  feel 
ashamed  of  your  condition  and  prospects  ?  Are  you  entitled  to  the 
high  privileges  of  an  American  citizen,  when  misgovernment  is  at 
your  doors  ;  in  the  streets  ;  when  it  disturbs  your  slumbers :  when 
it  exposes  your  person,  your  property,  and  is  not  instantly  and  effec- 
tually rebuked  and  corrected  ?  The  time  is  auspicious  for  action. 
No  general  elections  present  themselves  to  drown  the  voice  of  remon- 
strance against  wrong.  All  is  now  calm  in  politics,  and  if  you  are 
quick,  wise  and  patriotic,  you  will  soon  have  cleansed  a  stable,  filthy 
far  beyond  that  Augean  nuisance,  which  seems  still  to  stink  in  the 
nostrils  of  the  world.  Consider  the  subject  thoroughly,  and  ascertain 
the  appropriate  remedies.  Every  man  may  add  his  mite.  Form 
your  thoughts  speedily  into  the  shape  of  action. 


HENRY  E.  DAVIES. 

Good  pay — $60,000  and  upwards  per  Annum. 
City  Reform. — A  few  days  ago,  a  statement  was  put  into  our  hands 
showing  the  expenses  of  opening  the  Third  avenue  some  years  ago,  and 
of  the  Fourth  avenue,  from  84th  street  to  the  Harlem  River,  within  this 
year.  In  the  former  case  they  were  $2,023.81.  In  the  latter  case,  £33,- 
058.51.  The  proceedings  to  open  the  Third  avenue  were  conducted  by 
that  honest  and  excellent  man  Michael  Ulshoefter.  The  proceedings  in 
the  latter  by  Henry  E.  Davies.  Not  wishing  to  make  any  statement  of  the 
expenses  occasioned  by  Mr.  Davies,  that  we  did  not  Jcnow  to  be  correct, 
we  went  to  the  City  Hall  to  make  the  requisite  inquiries.  The  examina- 
tion had  scarcely  commenced  before  there  was  opened  a  most  astonishing 
display  of  recklessness  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  invested  with  public 
trusts.  The  fees  of  Mr.  Davies  on  opening  the  4th  avenue,  were  $15,240.  The 
amount  was  received  on  the  last  day  of  the  official  term  of  the  late  officers 
of  this  City  Government;  the  last  also,  fortunately  for  the*city,  of  Mr. 
Henry  E.  Davies.  The  book  being  before  us,  curiosity  led  us  to  ascertain 
how  much  had  been  received  within  the  year,  on  this  head  of  service. 


Att'y  and  Counsel  fees— Liberty  street  $1,188  97 

Albany  street   826  19 

"  "         51st  street   448  02 

"  "         Eloomi no-dale  road   2,378  44 

82d  street   581  23 

"  "         125th  street   1,149  34 

"  *  Stuwesant  square   254  26 

"  "         liyth  street   724  16 


7 


Attfy  and  Counsel  tees— 124th  street   996  87 

«  «         Bloomingdale  square   7,478  70 

«  «         First  avenue   4,448  43 

«  «         Canal  and  Walker  6,341  65 

"  "         11th  avenue  (part)   1,735  37  . 

«  «  120th  street— say   600  00 

"  a         4th  avenue,  above  15,246  00 


$47,500  63 

We  are  not  sure  that  this  embraces  tbe  whole  amount  received,  but  it 
will  be  found  to  exceed  the  united  salaries  of  the  gentlemen  at  Washing- 
ton, who  compose  the  Cabinet  of  the  President. 

The  items  are  composed,  with  the  exception  of  very  inconsiderable 
sums,  of  charges  for  services  as  Attorney  in  drawing  the  papers,  and  of 
Counsel  fees.    Some  of  the  counsel  fees  are  as  follows  : — 

Motion  to  appoint  Commissioners   $75 

Advising  with  Commissioners   500 

Preparing  to  argue  and  arguing   500 

$1,075 

These  magnificent  amounts  are  certified  to  by  the  commissioners.  Their 
fees  are  procured  to  be  taxed  by  the  counsel.  The  two  have  an  interest 
to  swell  the  amount  to  the  utmost  capacity  of  property  owners  to  pay. 
These  sums,  it  must  be  recollected,  are  over  and  above  various  other 
amounts  paid  for  services  rendered  by  this  well  known  officer.  The  or- 
dinances of  the  Corporation  fix  the  salary  of  the  counsel  at  three  thousand 
\  jwe  hundred  dollars.-  He  is  allowed  for  clerk  hire,  two  thousand  one 
hundred  dollars.  For  contingencies,  printing  and  stationery,  he  receives 
in  addition,  and  doubtless  pays  away,  $6,200.  The  counsel  also  receives 
large  sums,  large,  we  mean,  in  our  view,  small  no  doubt  in  his,  for  mort- 
gages drawn  for  purchase  moneys  on  sales  of  corporation  lots,  for  leases 
of  land,  docks,  ferries,  and  for  taxed  costs  on  suits  in  which  the  city  pre- 
vails. We  speak  now  of  what  are  called  the  legitimate  fees  of  the  office. 
We  do  not  take  into  view  the  supposed  receipts  from  other  sources.  The  fee 
for  draw ing  a  ferry  lease  we  hear  has  been  fifty  dolors,  in  the  most  unim 
portant  cases.  Whilst  we  were  present  in  the  Comptroller's  office,  a  gen- 
tleman who  had  bought  a  gore  from  the  city,  and  who  was  charged  $11 
for  fees,  was  endeavoring  to  ascertain  from  Mr.  Flagg,  in  what  manner 
he  could  recover  it  back.  The  counsel  of  the  Corporation  holds  his  office 
under  the  Charter  of  1849,  which  provides  that  there  shall  be  "an  execu- 
"  tive  department  known  as  the  Law  Department,  which  shall  have  the 
"charge  of  and  conduct  all  the  law  business  of  the  corporation,  and  of  the 
"  departments  thereof,  and  all  other  law  business  in  which  the  city  shall 
*  *  be  interested,  when  so  ordered  by  the  corporation,  and  shall  have  the 


8 


"charge  of  and  conduct  the  legal  proceedings  necessary  in  opening, 
"widening,  or  altering  streets;  and  draw  the  leases,  deeds,  and  other 
"papers  connected  with  the  Finance  Department,  and  the  chief  officer 
"thereof  shali  be  called  the  Counsel  to  the  Corporation."  In  order  to 
carry  this  provision  of  the  charter  into  effect,  certain  ordinances  were 
drawn  up  in  1849,  after  Mr.  Davies  had  been  appointed  counsel,  in  which 
ordinances  he  doubtless  took  a  part,  at  least  in  the  matter  appertaining  to 
his  duties.  Before  his  appointment  a  law  had  been  drawn  up  by  Alder- 
man Purser,  with  the  advice  of  important  members  of  the  Judiciary,  having 
for  its  object  to  cut  off  fully  the  charges  by  the  counsel  for  any  services 
over  and  above  his  salary,  and  it  was  adopted.  This  had  become  an  es- 
tablished policy.  This  principle  could  only  be  invaded  by  indirection. 
It  was  thus  accomplished.  The  425th  section  of  the  new  ordinances 
provides  that  **  the  salary  to  be  paid  to  the  counsel  to  the  cor- 
"poratien  shall  be  a  full  compensation,  as  between  him  and  the 
"corporation,  for  all  the  services  he  may  be  required  to  render  by  this 
"article  (art.  11  meaning.)  He  shall  nevertheless  be  entitled  to  receive 
"from  parties  other  than  the  corporation,  the  taxable  costs  in  all  actions 
"  and  proceedings  which  may  be  conducted,  prosecuted  or  defended  by 
"him  as  such  counsel  as  provided  in  section  420."  Section  240  requires 
"him  to  prosecute  and  defend  as  the  Attorney  and  Counsel  of  the  Cor- 
poration, all  actions  which  may  be  brought  by  or  against  them,  or  any  of 
"the  heads  of  Department  or  bureau,  or  any  officer  thereof,  for  or  by 
"  reason  of  any  matter  connected  with  or  growing  out  of  their  respective 
"  offices,  or  in  which  the  corporation  are  interested,  in  any  court  in  this 
"  State,"  except,  &c. 

The  limitation  in  any  Court  of  this  State  had  a  particular  object.  There 
were  thirty  odd  suits  against  the  city  depending  in  the  State  of  New  Jer- 
sey, growing  out  of  the  great  fire,  the  care  of  which  necessarily  fell  to  Mr. 
Davies  under  the  provision  of  the  charter  above  quoted.  The  suits  were 
an  experiment  after  failures  in  the  Courts  in  this  State.  Mr.  Cornelius  W. 
Lawrence,  on  his  way  to  Washington,  had  been  sued  and  the  suits  were 
to  be  defended.  The  charter  required  the  counsel  to  defend  all  suits, 
whether  in  or  out  of  the  State  ;  the  compensation  provided  in  the  ordin- 
ances applied  only  to  those  in  the  state.  A  test  suit  was  tried  and  finally 
decided  in  behalf  of  New  York  by  the  bench  in  New  Jersey.  Mr.  Davie3 
finding  that  his  term  was  about  to  expire,  set  about  to  obtain,  without 
going  to  the  corporation  und  without  notice  to  the  public,  a  fee  in  that 
matter,  and  he  found  an  old  ordinance  which  the  late  Finance  Committee 
were  induced  to  apply  to  this  subject.  Under  these  circumstances  he  re- 
ceived, a  few  weeks  before  his  term  ended,  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars for  his  services  there  as  counsel.  The  persons  who  adjudicated  upon 
this  charge  were  Aldermen  Bard  and  Boyce,  and  Assistant  Aldermea 


9 


Wells  and  Ring.  At  the  same  time,  other  charges  by  other  counsel  were 
presented  and  allowed,  amounting  to  Eleven  Thousand  Dollars.  The 
ordinance  referred  to  as  authority  for  this  extraordinary  proceeding,  was 
one  passed  in  133S,  and  bad  in  view  the  suits  then  pending  in  this  State, 
and  not  those  commenced  in  New  Jersey  aftenmrds.  It  was  indeed  a 
mere  resolution  which  could  be  carried  into  effect  only  by  the  Finance 
Committee  then  in  existence,  although  in  the  book  of  ordinances  of  1845 
it  is  improperly  published  among  them.   It  is  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  suit  and  claims  for  damages  sustained  by  the  blow- 
ing up  buildings  during  the  great  fire,  be  referred  to  the  Finance  Com- 
mittees, together  with  the  Law  Committees  of  both  boards,  with  power  to 
direct  the  further  prosecution  or  defence  of  the  same  or  some  of  them, 
or  to  settle  and  pay  the  same  or  some  of  them,  and  all  expenses  attending 
the  same,  as  they  in  their  discretion  shall  judge  proper,  and  to  direct  the 
sale  and  transfer  of  so  much  of  the  stock  of  the  Fire  Indemnity  Loan  as 
shall  be  necessary  to  make  such  payment. 

Resolved,  That  the  Comptroller  be  authorized  to  sell  and  dispose  of  so 
much  of  the  stock  of  the  Fire  Indemnity  Loan,  and  to  pay  such  claims  as 
the  Finance  Commiitee  in  pursuance  of 'the  above  resolution  shall  direct. 

Under  this  assumed  authority,  these  enormous  payments  are  made, 
and  that  too,  not  in  pursuance  of  the  first  resolution  ;  for  that  required 
the  consent  of  the  Law  Committees,  which  was  not  obtained. 

Citizens  of  New  York,  it  is  thus  that  your  purse  is  opened,  and  that 
arms  are  thrust  in  to  the  very  armpits,  in  open  day,  and  your  taxes  rais- 
ed nearly  fifty  per  cent,  in  one  year,  in  addition  to  large  permanent  debts 
incurred  under  authority  of  the  Legislature.  That  body  has  been  deceiv- 
ed and  you  betrayed.  Go  to  them. to  reform  your  difficulties.  They  will 
listen  to  your  honest  appeals,  and  fetter  the  roguery  by  which  the  city  is 
dishonored.  Are  you  ready  to  act  ?  The  time  is  auspicious.  The  Legis- 
lature is  now  in  session.  You  must  be  quick,  active,  firm,  and  all  will 
yet  be  well.  A  great  duty  is  imposed  upon  you  for  yourselves  and  your 
children.  Shall  reproaches  fall  on  you  for  your  indifference,  or  shall  the 
blessings  of  an  approving  conscience  and  of  posterity  rest  upon  you  ? 


HENRY  E.  DAVIES,  ESQ. 
Good  Pay  for  Services  in  Fire  Suits,  $10,000. 
The  SI 0,000  Fee.— The  right  to  a  fee  to  the  Corporation  Counsel  for 
defending  suits  brought  against  the  city  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  was 
hinged  upon  a  resolution  passed  in  1837,  authorizing  the  Finance  and  the 
Law  Committees  to  adjust  claims  against  the  city  growing  out  of  the  great 
fire,  and  the  expenses  attending  the  same.  It  has  already  been  shown  that 
the  resolution  related  to  suits  then  pending  in  this  State,  in  which  a  deci- 


10 


sion  was  subsequently  made  in  favor  of  the  city;  that  it  was  a  direction  io 
committees  then  in  existence;  that  its  operation,  (as  it  was  a  resolution 
and  not  an  ordinance)  was  temporary;  and  that  to  revive  it,  and  avply  it 
fifteen  years  afterwards,  was  wholly  improper;  and  especially  when  but 
four  out  of  six  members  of  the  Finance  Committee  had  been  consulted,  and 
not  one  of  the  Law  Committee.  The  fee  of  $10r000  was  received  by  Mr, 
Davies  from  the  Comptroller,  (no  one  will  suppose  that  we  refer  to  Mr. 
Flagg,)  on  the  certificate  of  but  two  members  of  each  Finance  Committee, 
without  being  placed  before  the  Common  Council,  without  notice  to  the 
public,  and  in  express  defiance  also  of  various  ordinances  of  the  Common 
Council,  passed  subsequently  to  the  date  of  that  resolution.  At  the  risk 
of  being  tedious,  we  feel  obliged  to  present  the  matter  fully  to  the  public. 
In  1847,  various  claims  for  extra  services  by  a  former  counsel  had  been 
presented,  and  referred  to  the  Finance  Committee  for  adjustment.  The 
Common  Council,  in  order  to  cut  off  all  like  claims,  passed  the  following 
preamble  and  resolutions : 

"  Mli.ereas,  By  an  ordinance  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  passed  May  14,  1839,  it  was  ordained,  that  the  Counsel  to'the  Cor- 
poration should  advise  the  two  Boards  and  their  committees  and  officers, 
on  such  legal  questions  as  might,  from  time  to  time,  arise  in  relation  to  the 
business  of  the  corporation,  and  perform  all  such  other  services  in  the  line 
of  his  profession  connected  with  the  business  of  the  corporation,  as  were 
not  comprised  in  the  duties  of  the  Attomey. 

"  And  Whereas,  By  a  resolution  passed  May  29th,  1844,  the  salary  to  the 

counsel  was  fixed  at  $2,00o,  and,  by  an  ordinance  passed  ,  $1,600 

was  allowed  him  for  clerk  hire. 

And  Whereas,  There  are  now  before  the  Joint  Finance  Committee,  for 
adjustment,  bills  to  the  very  large  and  extravagant  amount  of  nearly 
$25,000,  for  alleged  extra  services  rendered  by  persons  heretofore  occupy- 
ing the  situation  of  counsel  to  the  corporation,  in  violation  vt  the  spirit, 'if 
nol  the  letter  of  the  ordinance,  allowing  a  definite  salary  to  the  counsel,  in 
heu  of  any  and  all  fees.  Therefore, 

•*  Resulted,  That  in  fixing  the  salary  of  the  Counsel  of  the  Corporation 
at  §2,<)oo  per  annum,  it  was  clearly  meant  and  intended  that  it  should  be 
received  bv  lain  in  lull  tor  any  and  all  professional  sei  vices  rendered  by 
him.  either  to  the  Mayor,  Common.  Council,  or  any  member  thereof,  in  his 
official  capacity,  and  for  any  and  all  services  rendered  by  him,  either  in 
fhe  preparing  or  di  awing  of  any  lease,  deed,  or  other  conveyance,  or  in- 
strument in  Cv.king.  fof  the  said  corporation,  and  for  the  prosecuting  and 
defending  of  qm  a?id  all  suits,  or  legal  proeeedinys,  brought  against  the 
said  Corpor,:  ion,  a  d  .hat  the  said  corporation  were  not.  to  be  considered 
as  liable  or  responsible  for  any  extra  services  rendered  by  him  in  ihat  ca- 
pacity, and  that,  hereafter,  the  Common  Council  will  not  sanction  or  ap- 
prove of  or  allow,  any  charge  for  services  rendered  by  the  counsel  to  the 
corporation  over  and  above  the  salary  of  $2,000  per  annum,  or  such  other 
sum  as  may  be  fixed  by  Common  Council. 

"Adopted  by  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  July  26,  1847. 

"  Adopted  by  the  Board  of  Assistants,  Sept.  6, 1847. 

"  Approved  by  the  Mayor,  Sept.  7, 1847." 


11 


Notwithstanding  this  resolution,  (which  was  loosely  drawn,  though  its 
object  could  not  be  mistaken,)  claims  for  subsequent  extra  services  were 
presented  and  recovered.  Alderman  Purser,  then  in  the  Board,  applied 
for  a  committee  to  prepare  an  ordinance  on  the  subject,  which  was  appoin- 
ted. In  order  to  close  up  the  openings  through  which  recoveries  for  extra 
services  had  been  made,  he  consulted  with  those  members  of  the  Judiciary 
who  had  examined  the  question,  and  prepared,  under  their  direction  and 
with  due  care,  an  ordinauce  on  the  subject,  which  was  adopted  with  great 
Unanimity.  This  proceeding  took  place  about  twelve  months  in  advance 
of  the  term  of  Mr.  Henry  E.  Davies,  who  knew  its  character  perfectly  Well 
when,  through  his  expressed  desire  to  render  public  service,  he  became  a 
candidate  for  office.  The  ordinance,  approved  by  the  Mayor  on  the  9th  of 
May,  1348,  is  as  follows : 

The  Mayor,  Ald-ennen  and  Commonalty  of  the  City  of  Xew  York,  in  Com- 
mon Council  convened,  do  ordain  as  follows: 

§  1.  There  shall  be  a  Department  of  the  City  Government  known  as 
the  Law  Department,  the  chief  officer  whereof  shall  be  denominated  the 
"  Counsel  of  the  Corporation;"  and  he  shall  keep  his  office  in  such  rooms 
of  the  City  Hall  as  may  be  assigned  by  the  Common  Council.  He  shall 
be  appointed  by  the  Common  Council,  and  receive  a  salary  of  thirty-five 
hundred  dollars  per  annum,  which  salary  shall  be  in  full  for  all  services 
rendered  by  said  officer,  ivhether  in  the  capacity  of  Attorney,  Counsel,  So- 
licitor, Proctor  or  Conveyancer;  and  said  salary  shall  be  in  lieu  of  all 
costs  at  law  or  in  equity,  and  of  all  fees  or  other  charges  against  the  Cor- 
poration, Supervisors,  or  Departments,  or  against  any  other  person  or  per- 
sons, for  the  perfor  mance  of  any  service  connected  with,  or  arising  out  of, 
the  business  of  the  said  Corporation,  which  shall  or  may  be  committed  to  his 
care,  under  or  by  vhrtxie  of  this  ordinance. 

§  2.  The  said  Counsel  shall,  before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office, 
take  and  subscribe  an  oath,  or  affirmation,  well  and  faithfully  to  per'orm 
the  duties  of  said  office.  He  shall  also  £ive  a  bond,  with  sufficient  sureties, 
to  be  approved  by  the  Finance  Committees  of  both  Boards,  in  the  penal 
sum  of  two  thousand  dollars,  conditioned  for  the  faithful  performance  of 
the  duties  of  his  office. 

§  3.  It  shall  be  the  du'y  of  the  said  Attorney  and  Counsel  to  advise  the 
two  Boards  and  their  Committees  and  officers,  on  such  questions  as  may, 
from  time  to  time,  arise  in  relation  to  the  business  of  the  Corpo  ation.  He 
shall  keep  his  office  in  one  of  the  moms  adjoining  tho«e  occupied  by  the 
Comptroller,  and  shall  attend  to  all  the  business  of  the  corporation  not 
committed  to  the  Attorney  of  the  Corporation  ;  and  shall  perform,  without 
any  charge  beyond  the  compensation  before  specified,  all  such  duties,  in 
the  Ime  of  his  profession,  in  defending  or  prosecuting  suits  at  law,  or  in 
equity,  in  which  the  Corporation  of  New  York  have  any  interest  or  concern, 
and  all  such  deeds,  conveyances,  contracts,  reports  of  committees,  peti- 
tions, drafts  of  laws  or  other  papers,  or  services  as  shall  be  required. 

§  4.  All  fees  received  by  said  Attorney  and  Counsel  for  taxed  costs  in 
any  suit,  or  for  the  drawing  of  deeds,  mortgages,  or  other  papers  or  ser- 
vices connected  with,  or  arising  out  of,  the  business  of  the  Corporation 
Board  of  Supervisors,  or  any  of  the  departments  of  the  City  Government^ 


12 


shall  be  paid  by  him  into  the  City  Treasury  at  the  close  of  each  month,  and 
he  shall  immediately  after  file  a  detailed  report  thereof,  verified  by  oath  or 
affirmation,  accompanied  by  the  Chamberlain's  receipt,  with  the  Comp- 
troller. 

§  5.  The  said  Corporation  Counsel  shall  keep  an  account  of  all  the  fees 
of  court  and  actual  disbursments  paid  out  and  disbursed  by  him  in  the 
conducting  of  any  suit  or  proceeding,  essential  in  the  performance  of  his 
duties,  and  shall  monthly  render  to  the  Comptroller,  a  statement  in  detail, 
verified  by  oath,  of  all  such  fees  of  court  and  disbursment,  actually  paid 
out  and  disbursed  by  him,  and  the  Comptroller  shall  pay  the  same  after 
proper  examination ;  but  the  said  Corporation  Counsel  shall  not  be,  direct* 
ly  or  indirectly,  interested  in  any  such  fees  or  disbursments. 

%  6.  The  said  Attorney  and  Counsel  shall  have  two  clerks  to  assist  him 
in  the  performance  of  his  dulies,  who  shall  be  appointed  by  him,  one  at  a 
salary  of  one  thousand  dollars,  and  one  at  a  salary  of  six  hundred  dol- 
lars. 

§  7.  Section  1st,  Title  1st,  of  Chapter  4th  of  Revised  Ordinances  in  re- 
lation to  the  Counsel  of  the  Corporation,  and  all  other  Ordinances  and 
resolutions  inconsistent  with  this  Ordinance,  are  hereby  repealed. 

These  ordinances  have  the  merit  of  precision  and  comprehensiveness. 
Under  them  no  claims  for  extra  services  of  any  description  could  be  re- 
covered. Mr.  Davies  found  them  in  operation  when  he  was  first  appointed 
in  May,  1849.  In  order  to  reform  the  abuses  that  had  previously  existed 
in  the  Government,  the  Legislature,  on  the  2d  of  April,  1849,  made  nume- 
rous and  important  alterations  in  the  charter,  which  were  to  be  submitted 
to  the  people  for  approval  on  the  2d  Tuesday  of  that  month,  and,  if  ap- 
proved, were  to  take  effect  on  the  first  day  of  June  in  the  same  year.  Such 
submission  and  approval  took  place,  and  the  charter,  as  amended,  was 
adopted.  Among  other  things,  it  made  the  heads  of  department  elective, 
and  among  them  that  of  the  law  department.  Mr.  Davies,  under  the  ap- 
pointment in  May,  1849,  took  possession  of  his  office.  He  held  it  to  the 
first  of  January  last.  The  provisions  of  the  new  charter,  applicable  to  his 
office,  are  as  follows : 

Sec.  18.  "  There  shall  be  an  executive  department,  known  as  the  "  Law 
Department,"  which  shall  have  the  charge  of  and  conduct  all  the  law  bus- 
iness of  the  Corporation,  and  of  the  departments  thereof,  and  all  other 
law  business  in  which  the  city  shall  be  interested,  when  so  ordered  by  the 
corporation  ;  and  shall  have  the  charge  of  and  conduct  the  legal  proceed- 
ing necessary  in  opening,  widening,  or  altering  streets ;  and  draw  the 
leases,  deeds,  and  other  papers  connected  with  the  Finance  department, 
and  the  chief  officer  thereof  shall  be  called  the  Corporation  Counsel." 

Sec.  19.  "No  expense  shall  be  incurred  by  any  of  the  departments  or 
officers  thereof,  whether  the  object  of  expenditure  shall  have  been  ordered 
by  the  Common  Council  or  not,  unless  an  appropriation  shall  have  been 
previously  made  concerning  such  expense." 

The  then  existing  ordinances  in  respect  to  the  compensation  of  the 
Counsel  remained  in  full  force ;  but,  as  the  new  charter  produced  a  deci- 


13 


sive  change  in  the  organization  of  the  city  government,  an  alteration  of  the 
ordinances  was  necessary  in  order  that  there  should  be  conformity  be- 
tween them.  A  committee  was  appointed  for  this  purpose  in  both  Boards  ; 
about  200  pages  of  additional  ordinances  were  reported  ;  they  were  adop- 
ted a  day  or  two  before  the  new  government  was  to  go  into  effect ;  but  the 
haste  with  which  they  were  acted  upon,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact, 
that  they  were  adopted  by  one  Board  on  the  28th,  by  another  on  the  29th, 
and  were  approved  by  the  Mayor  on  the  30th  May,  1849, — all  within  two 
months  of  the  passage  of  the  Act  to  submit  the  new  charter  to  the  peo- 
ple. 

The  new  ordinances  on  the  subject  of  the  compensation  of  the  Counsel, 
left  the  salary  of  the  counsel  and  his  clerks  at  the  amount  fixed  under  Al- 
derman Purser's  proceedings ;  but  the  precision  and  force  of  Alderman 
Purser's  ordinance  were,  in  part,  destroyed.  There  was  a  partial  enume- 
ration of  subjects  to  which  the  duty  of  the  counsel  applied,  and  an  omis- 
sion of  others  certain  to  fall  within  it,  which  destroyed  the  force  of  the 
following  provision,  intended  apparently  to  cut  off  extra  claims  : — "  The 
salary  to  be  paid  to  the  Counsel  to  the  Corporation,  shall  be  a  full  com- 
pensation as  between  him  and  the  Corporation,  for  all  the  services  he  may 
be  required  to  render  by  this  article."  Ke  was  not  required  by  that  article 
(Art.  2)  to  take  proceedings  to  open  streets,  or  to  defend  suits  out  of  the 
State,  or  to  draw  mortgages  to  the  City,  or  lease  to  ferries,  &c.  It  is  ow- 
ing to  these  omissions  that  he  has  received,  during  his  official  term,  pro~ 
bably  Two  hundred  thousand  dollars  over  and  above  what  would  have 
been  allowed  if  the  ordinance  as  to  his  compensation  had  remained  in  the 
shape  given  to  it  by  Alderman  Purser.  It  was,  however,  changed.  The 
hand  of  a  master  evidently  appears  in  its  structure.  It  is  divided  into  three 
articles.  The  first  follows  the  language  of  the  charter  and  requires  the  coun- 
sel to  conduct  the  proceedings  in  opening  streets ;  the  second  omits  it,  and 
applies  the  salary  only  to  what  is  required  by  the  second  article ;  and 
these  words  are  judiciously  added  : 

"He  shall  nevertheless  be  entitled  to  receive  from  parties,  otJier  than 
the  Corporation,  the  taxable  costs  in  all  actions  and  proceedings  which 
may  be  conducted,  prosecuted  or  defended  by  him  as  such  counsel,  as 
provided  in  section  420." 

These  ordinances  were  in  the  course  of  preparation  from  the  day  of  his 
appointment,  the  22d  May,  to  the  day  his  duties  commenced,  the  30th 
May,  on  which  day  the  ordinances  took  effect.  They  were  adopted  on  that 
day  without  proper  reading,  as  they  were  understood  to  be  mainly  of  that 
organic  character  which  was  required  to  set  the  new  machinery  of  Go- 
vernment in  motion.  They  were  then  to  be  printed ;  but  whether  they 
received  modification  as  they  went  through  the  press,  no  stranger  to  the 


14 


proceeding  can  tell.  No  individual  could  at  that  time  have  made  the  im- 
mense change  in  the  rule  of  compensation  applied  to  the  counsel,  in  an 
open  manner.  It  required  indirection  and  haste,  such  as  prevents  exam- 
ination and  care,  to  accomplish  it.  The  repealing  clause  declaring  that 
all  ordinances  inconsistent  with  those  then  adopted  were  repealed,  has 
failed  to  accomplish  its  purpose  so  far  as  to  repeal  that  portion  of  the  re- 
solution adopted  in  1847,  which  declares  that  "hereafter  the  Common 
Council  will  not  sanction  or  approve  of,  or  allow  any  charge  for  services 
rendered  by  the  Counsel  to  the  Corporation  over  and  above  the  salary  of 
$2,000  per  annum,  or  such  other  sum  as  may  be  fixed  by  the  Common 
Council."  If  the  resolution  of  1837  remained  in  force  beyond  the  year, 
this  did  also. 

It  is,  therefore,  clear  that  the  charge  of  ten  thousand  dollars  was  wholly 
illegal,  and  its  receipt  under  the  circumstances,  a  clear  fraud  upon  the 
public ;  and  it  may  be  recovered  back  on  a  suit  brought  for  that  purpose. 
The  ordinances  also  provide  "  that  no  officer  of  the  Corporation  who  re- 
ceives a  fixed  salary,  shall  be  entitled  to  any  extra  compensation  for  any 
service  which  he  may  render  to  the  Corporation."  We  trust  a  committee 
may  be  appointed  by  the  Legislature  to  inquire  into  the  total  amount  re- 
ceived, with  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers ;  as  the  foundation  not 
only  of  proper  laws  on  the  subject,  but  also  as  the  foundation  of  proceed- 
ings for  recovering  these  iniquitous  gains. 


SACRIFICE  AT  PRIVATE  SALE  OF  THE  FORT 
GANSEVOORT  PROPERTY. 
The  sale  made  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  to  Mr. 
Simeon  Draper,  embraces  the  piece  of  land  mostly  under  water,  ex- 
tending from  the  bulkhead  running  along  West  street  and  the  10th 
Avenue  out  to  another  bulkhead  running  parallel  with  it,  lately 
erected,  which  constitutes  the  exterior  line  of  the  city.  On  the  in- 
ner line  it  is  584  feet,  on  the  exterior  line  870,  from  which  the  city 
reserves  the  use  of  108£  feet  for  streets,  running  East  and  West. 
The  Southerly  line  of  the  lots  is  400  feet,  the  Northerly  about  580. 
When  filled  up,  the  purchasers  will  own  between  70  and  80  lots, 
and  781  feet  of  the  preseut  exterior  bulkhead,  from  which  they  will 
be  entitled  to  wharfage  and  dockage.  The  land  lies  open  to  the 
river  on  the  South  side  only,  and  that,  for  only  part  of  the  way. 
There  is  a  bulkhead  returning  towards  the  shore  65  feet.  The 
Northerly  boundary  of  this  land  is  Twelfth  street,  which  was  filled 


15 


up  by  the  city  and  a  private  owner  at  the  expense  of  $1*7,340,  borne 
jointly.  Its  West  boundary  is  the  bulkhead  lately  erected  by  the 
city  at  a  cost  of  894,920.33.  Its  east  boundary  is  the  bulkhead  along 
West  street,  which  originally  cost  the  city  $26,500.  Its  South  line 
is  Gansevoort  street,  which  is  not  filled  up  except  for  65  feet.  The 
land  under  water  inside  of  these  boundaries  is  so  sheltered  from  the 
action  of  the  river,  by  the  fruits  of  the  large  outlay  made,  that  it 
can  now  be  filled  up  without  waste.  The  city  reserves  the  right  to 
throw  in  coal  ashes  and  street  rubbish  from  several  wards  until  it 
is  filled  up,  but  it  is  not  reserved  as  an  exclusive  right,  and  others 
who  pay  for  the  privilege  will  no  doubt  be  allowed  to  use  it  also. 
The  purchasers  agree  to  make  the  streets  and  so  much  of  the  13th 
avenue  as  are  within  the  grant,  and  to  pave  and  repair  them,  but 
they  will  be  made  by  the  deposits  above  mentioned.  The  purchase 
money  was  $160,000,  only  about  §30,000  beyond  the  outlay  already 
made  by  the  public  to  bring  the  land  under  water  into  use* 

It  will  readily  be  perceived  that  as  the  city  needs  a  dumping 
ground  for  the  refuse,  this  property  should  have  been  reserved,  and 
when  filled  up,  sold,  at  the  greatly  advanced  value  thus  to  be  given 
to  it  by  the  city.  But,  for  some  singular  reasons,  certain  officers  of 
the  city  entrusted  with  the  care  of  this  property  (the  Sinking  Fund 
Commissioners,)  thought  proper  to  sell  it  to  another  officer  (a  Com- 
missioner of  the  Alms  House,)  in  which  sale  the  plainest  provisions  of 
the  statutes  of  this  State,  the  ordinances  of  the  city  and  its  charter, 
were  directly  violated.  The  19th  section  of  the  amended  charter 
provides  that — 

"  No  member  of  the  common  council,  head  of  department,  chief  of 
bureau,  deputy  thereof,  or  clerk  therein,  or  other  officer  of  the  Cor- 
poration, shall  be  directly  or  indirectly  interested  in  any  contract, 
work  or  business,  or  the  sale  of  any  article,  the  expense,  price  or 
consideration  of  which  is  paid  from  the  city  treasury,  or  by  any  as- 
sessments levied  by  any  act  or  ordinance  of  the  common  council, 
nor  in  the  purchase  of  any  real  estate  or  other  property  belonging  to 
the  Corporation,  or  which  shall  be  sold  for  taxes  and  assessments." 

For  a  violation  of  this  ordinance,  the  party  offending  may  be  im- 
peached and  disqualified  from  holding  any  civil  office  under  the 
charter.  Mr.  Draper  is  such  officer.  The  sale  made  nominally  to 
the  keeper  of  a  restaurant,  was  on  the  spot  transferred  to  Mr- 
Draper  ;  but  after  the  deed  had  been  drawn  to  him  by  the  Corpora 

*  This  property  was  at  the  time,  valued  by  A  J.  Bleecker,  Auctioneer,  at  $300,000. 


16 


tion  Counsel,  (Mr.  Davies,)  this  provision  was  examined,  and 
another  party  selected  as  the  grantee.  The  purchaser  violated  this 
law.  The  sellers  violated  it  in  selling  to  him,  and  they  violated 
others,  equally  explicit  and  important. 

In  1851,  the  city  of  jNew  York,  through  the  exertions  of  the  late 
Comptroller,  applied  to  the  Legislature  for  authority  to  increase 
largely  and  imprudently  its  debt.  It  was  for  the  purpose  of  hiding 
from  tax  payers  the  increase  in  expenditure  and  to  distribute  greater 
advantages  to  favorites.  The  laws  for  this  purpose  embraced  a  new 
principle,  authority  to  create  debt  for  annual  repairs.  A  large  por- 
tion of  it  was  created  to  build  bulkheads.  In  order  to  induce  the 
Legislature  to  pass  them,  and  overcome  the  expected  hesitancy  of 
capitalists  to  take  the  debt,  a  provision  was  inserted  in  one  of  the 
acts,  that  those  ordinances  of  the  city  which  appropriate  its  property 
to  its  debt  and  provide  a  particular  manner  of  sale,  shall  be  above 
the  power  of  future  Corporations.  The  act  says  (June  20th,  1851,) 
that  those  ordinances  "shall  not  be  amended  without  the  consent  of 
the  Legislature  first  had  and  obtained"  The  ordinances  thus  secure 
from  amendment  are  as  follows : — 

"The  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  are  hereby  authorized  to 
sell  and  dispose  of  all  real  estate  belonging  to  the  Corporation,  and 
not  in  use  for  and  reserved  for  public  purposes,  at  public  auction,  at 
such  times  and  on  such  terms  as  they  may  deem  most  advantageous 
for  the  public  interest ;  provided,  however,  that  no  property  shall 
be  disposed  of  for  a  smaller  sum  than  that  affixed  to  the  description 
of  said  property  under  Title  V  of  this  Ordinance  ;  and  that  at  least 
twenty  days'  previous  notice  of  the  time  and  place  of  such  sale,  in- 
cluding a  description  of  the  property  to  be  sold,  be  published  in  each 
of  the  newspapers  employed  by  the  Corporation." 

The  provisions  of  Title  V.,  thus  referred  to,  and  to  control  in  ascer- 
taining the  valuation  in  advance  of  a,  public  sale,  are  as  follows  : 

Section  1.  Real  estate,  under  lease,  without  covenants  of  renewal, 
shall  not  be  sold  for  a  less  sum  than  the  same  may  be  appraised  at 
by  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  and  the  Street  Commis- 
sioners, or  a  majority  of  them,  at  a  meeting  to  be  held,  and  an  ap- 
praisement made,  within  one  month  prior  to  the  date  of  the  sale. 

Sec.  2.  Real  estate,  under  lease,  with  covenants  of  renewal,  shall 
not  be  sold  for  a  less  sum  than  an  amount  equal  to  a  commutation  on 
the  present  rents  reserved,  calculated  at  6  per  cent. 

Sec.  3.  "  Real  estate  not  embraced  in  the  last  two  preceding  sec- 
tions" (this  was  not)  "  shall  not  be  sold  for  a  less  sum  than  the  same 
may  be  appraised  at,  pursuant  to  the  first  section  of  this  title." 


17 


i 


These  provisions  authorise  only  a  public  sale ;  they  require  an  ap- 
praisement by  the  Sinking  Fund  Commissioners  and  the  Street  Com- 
missioners, an  advertisement  in  all  the  corporation  papers,  and  a  sale 
at  not  less  than  a  recently  fixed  minimum  price.  The  land  in  ques- 
tion was  clearly  real  estate,  not  only  that  gained  from  the  river,  but 
also  that  under  water  and  to  be  filled  up.  There  was  no  appraise- 
ment of  its  value,  such  as  the  law  contemplates ;  the  sale  was  made 
not  publicly,  but  in  a  peculiarly  private  manner.  A  resolution  was 
offered  on  the  27th  Dec.  1852,  that  the  land  be  sold  for  $160,000.  It 
was  agreed  to  instanter.  The  Commissioner  who  urged  it  drew  from 
his  pocket  a  bid  of  Reuben  Lovejoy,  which  was  accepted.  He  then 
drew  from  another  pocket  a  transfer  of  it  to  Simeon  Draper  ;  and 
from  another  pocket  an  acceptance  of  it  by  the  latter,  and  an  agree- 
ment to  pay.  The  deeds  were  drawn,  executed,  delivered,  and  the 
transaction  closed  before  the  term  of  the  new  Comptroller  com- 
menced, which  was  five  days  afterwards.  Forty  thousand  dollars 
were  paid  down ;  the  balance  was  secured  by  bond  and  mortgage. 
The  grantee  selected,  after  it  was  found  that  Simeon  Draper  could 
not  take  title,  was  the  elder  Joseph  B.  Varnum.  There  was  an 
especial  duty  in  this  matter  devolved  upon  the  late  Mayor,  which  he 
omitted  to  perform.  The  fourth  section  of  the  above  chapter  of  ordi- 
nances provides  as  follows : 

"  §  4.  Whenever  any  real  estate  shall  have  been  sold  pursuant  to 
the  preceding  sections  of  this  title,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said 
Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund,  or  a  majority  of  them,  to  give 
a  certificate  under  their  hands,  that  the  same  has  been  sold  pursuant 
to  the  provisions  of  this  ordinance,  and  on  the  production  of  such 
certificate,  and  the  evidence  that  the  proceeds  of  such  sale  have  been 
paid  into  the  treasury,  to  the  credit  of  the  Sinking  Fund  for  the  re- 
demption of  the  city  debt,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Mayor  of  the 
city  and  the  clerk  of  the  Common  Council,  to  execute  proper  convey- 
ances of  such  real  estate,  under  their  hands  and  the  seal  of  the  city 
Corporation." 

None  of  these  formalities  could,  of  course,  have  been  observed,  and 
the  seal  of  the  city,  placed  under  the  control  of  the  Mayor  as  a 
sacred  trust,  has,  consequently,  been  affixed  without  authority.  He 
has  doubtless  been  deceived  into  connection  with  this  matter,  anr  has 
some  explanation  to  offer.* 


*  No  explanation  has  been  made  to  the  public 


18 


Thg  affair  was  closed  on  the  30th  or  31st  of  December.  Alderman 
Bard,  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  and  As- 
sistant Alderman  "Wells,  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Board  of 
Assistants,  were  actors  in  this  transaction.  They  also  fixed  the  fee 
of  Ten  Thousand  dollars  to  Henry  E.  Davies,  which  the  Comptroller 
improperly  paid.  It  was  on  the  same  31st  of  Dec.  that  Mr.  Davies 
received  from  the  Comptroller  and  Street  Commissioner  his  costs  of 
§15,000  for  opening  an  Avenue.  Mr.  Davies  was  doubtless  the  legal 
adviser  of  the  Mayor  and  others  in  this  transaction. 

We  are  told  that  the  scene  at  the  Comptroller's  office  on  that  day 
was  a  most  remarkable  one.  On  the  next  a  bull-dog  was  to  be  placed 
at  the  door  of  the  Treasury.  Whatever  was  to  be  accomplished  in 
the  way  of  fraud  and  theft,  was  to  be  done  in  advance  of  the  change 
or  never.  The  activity  of  subordinates  was  immense.  The  usual 
segar-smoking  was  for  once  omitted.  The  transactions  of  that  day, 
when  they  are  all  disclosed  and  all  ripped  up,  as  they  shall  be,  will 
urgje  citizens  onward  to  those  great  duties  of  reform  and  purification 
which  they  have  so  long  culpably  neglected. 

Within  the  past  year  every  profitable  street  and  avenue  has  been 
granted  to  favorites  of  the  Common  Council ;  the  taxes  have  been 
increased  nearly  two  millions  ;  the  permanent  debt  has  been  largely 
extended ;  the  property  of  the  city  has  been  thrown  away ;  Alder- 
men have  protected  criminals  ;  and  every  form  of  misgovernment 
is  at  our  doors.  With  the  frauds  and  abuses  so  openly  perpetrated, 
the  Legislature  of  this  State  can  have  no  sympathies.  They  will 
grant  the  required  relief.  Go  to  them,  and  ask,  that  through  their 
influence,  the  government  derived  from  them  may  be  saved  from  de- 
struction. The  petition  of  those  who  are  helpless,  men,  women  and 
children,  who  expect  no  other  favor  but  protection  to  life,  liberty  and 
property,  their  prayers  will  be  heard,  and  those  who  have  put  all 
these  great  interests  in  peril,  be  visited  with  shame,  disgrace  and 
final  punishment.  Go  to  the  Legislature  for  full  relief  They  have 
the  power  to  grant  it ;  and  if  they  refuse,  they  will  be  parties  to  the 
great  crimes  under  which  we  suffer.  Let  no  timid  counsels  lead  you 
into  half-way  measures.  Expel  from  power  the  rogues  who  still 
hold  it,  for  purposes  of  further  corruption.  They  belong  to  no  party 
but  that  of  Robin  Hood.  Party  will  not  protect  them.  Orgaiu'ze 
your  government  on  a  plan,  which,  while  it  sacredly  regards  every 


19 


popular  principle,  shall  yet  enable  honest  citizens  to  control  the  first 
city  on  the  continent,  a  city  which  has  the  capacity  to  confer  honor, 
when  well  managed,  but  if  not,  to  stamp  disgrace  on  the  State  at 
large. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  New  York  compelled  to  apply 

to  the  Legislature  for  relief — WHY? 
To  the  Legislature  of  this  State  : 

We  learn  that  some  surprise  has  been  expressed  among  that  por- 
tion of  your  body  which  has  no  sympathy  for  crime,  that  proceedings 
to  impeach  or  punish  the  Aldermen  of  the  city  have  not  been  taken. 
The  answer  is  very  evident.  In  the  charter  received  from  you  in 
1849,  there  is  a  clause  providing  that  "  the  Board  of  Assistant  Al- 
dermen shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeachment  of  all  city  officers, 
not  otherwise  provided  for ; "  and  further  that  "  the  Board  of 
Aldermen  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  impeachments."  To  the 
question  why  are  they  not  otherwise  punished,  the  answer  is  equal- 
ly complete.  Under  your  laws,  the  Aldermen  preside  with  a  Judge, 
or  the  Recorder,  in  the  criminal  courts.  The  Grand  Jury  are  organ- 
ized by  and  report  to  them.  The  Aldermen,  as  Supervisors  of  the 
city,  make  out  the  list  of  the  latter;  and  it  may  readily  be  supposed 
that,  when  crime  has  been  long  meditated  and  openly  committed, 
the  same  attempts  that  have  been  made  to  shake  the  Judiciary 
(through  the  provision  authorizing  the  Supervisors  to  raise  the  salary 
of  the  Judges)  would  be  extended  to  other  administrators  of  the  law, 
and  that  a  proper  care  over  the  composition  of  the  Gra,nd  Jury  would 
not  be  overlooked. 

There  is  still  another  reason.  The  rules  of  law  enable  any  person 
sworn  as  a  witness  in  cases  of  bribery  and  fraud,  to  relieve  himself 
from  the  obligation  to  testify  by  declaring  that  his  answers  will 
criminate  himself;  and  hence,  as  he  would  be  liable  to  immediate 
conviction,  proof  of  the  guilt  of  others  cannot  be  expected.  It  is 
therefore,  that  men  who  should  be  at  work  with  shaved  heads  and 
striped  jackets  in  one  class  of  public  buildings,  occupy  in  others  the 
honorable  post  of  Legislators  in  our  local  legislature,  throw  over 
their  persons  the  pure  ermine  of  justice,  and  hold  in  their  hands  the 


20 


power  to  govern  a  city  whose  example  for  good  or  evil,  influences 
every  place  on  this  great  continent.  A  trial  of  these  men  will  be  a 
farce,  until  you  shall  have  answered  the  petitions  that  will  soon  reach 
you  for  relief,  the  petitions  of  men  who  have  trusted  and  been  be- 
trayed, the  prayers  of  men,  women  and  children  who  now  look  to 
you  to  preserve  from  deep  contamination  the  charter  created  by 
your  hands. 

The  abuses  which  we  have  suffered  for  a  few  years  past,  were 
greatly  augmented  durirjg  the  past  year.  The  tax  bill  now  on  your 
table  speaks  volumes  on  that  subject.  There  will  be  those  in  your 
body  from  our  city,  who  will  try  to  press  it  speedily  into  a  law.  The 
tax  payers  expect  that  you  will  hold  it,  until  they  have  the  oppor- 
tunity to  be  heard  before  you.  Those  abuses,  by  which  the  taxes 
have  been  increased  nearly  two  millions  of  dollars,  have  been  perpe- 
trated for  the  benefit  of  members  of  the  Common  Council,  and  such 
others  as  expediency  required  them  to  benefit.  The  cry  of  all  these 
is — "  We  can  take  care  of  ourselves;  we  need  no  aid  from  the  Legis- 
lature ;  New  York  is  competent  to  manage  her  own  affairs."  You 
will  presently  see  that  the  whole  virtue,  intelligence,  and  substauce 
of  this  community  rely  on  you  for  those  organic  features  of  reform, 
which  fraud,  robbery,  and  violence  have  demonstrated  to  be  neces- 
sary. In  the  performance  of  our  duty  as  conductors  of  a  newspaper, 
we  have  endeavored  to  present  with  detail  and  explicituess  many  of 
the  monstrous  wrongs  under  which  the  community  suffers. 

We  beg  leave  now  to  call  your  attention  to  the  habitual  violation 
by  our  city  government  of  two  statutes  of  an  important  character. 
One  of  these  is  your  act  which  sacredly  applies  the  large  real  estate 
owned  by  the  Corporation  to  the  payment  of  its  debt ;  the  other,  the 
law  that  no  executive  business  shall  be  performed  by  any  committee 
or  member  of  the  Common  Council.  It  is  declared  that  if  a  member 
converts  anv  public  property  to  his  own  use,  or  knowingly  permits 
any  other  person  so  to  convert  it,  he  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  mis- 
demeanor. 

The  Sinking  Fund  Act  expressly  pledges  the  property  of  the  city 
to  the  payment  of  its  debt.  "  The  powers  and  duties  of  the  Commis- 
sioners "  (said  the  late  Mayor  in  his  message  of  the  20th  December) 
"are  defined  by  law  of  the  State."  That  law  permits  them  to  sell, 
but  limits  them  to  a  public  sale,  duly  advertised,  and  requires  that 


21 


Certain  officers  of  the  city  shall  affix  a  valuation  upon  the  property. 
The  pledge  thus  made  was  of  the  most  sacred  character.  You  de- 
clared that  these  provisions  should  not  be  amended  except  by  you. 
Now  mark  the  manner  in  which  the  law  was  lately  and  shamefully 
violated.  Property  valued  by  an  old  and  trusted  auctioneer  (A.  J. 
Bleecker)  at  three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  was  sold  privately 
at  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  there  was  an  effort 
to  sell  it  for  less.  The  matter  commenced  in  the  Common  Council. 
The  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  who  had  sole  charge  of  this 
property,  were  the  Mayor,  Comptroller,  Recorder,  Chamberlain,  and 
Alderman  Bard,  and  Assistant  Alderman  "Wells.  Four  constituted 
a  majority.  It  had  so  long  been  the  custom  to  sell  at  public  auction, 
that  the  Commissioners  dared  not  violate  the  law  requiring  it,  with- 
out a  specific  direction.  To  procure  it,  was  attempted  in  the  Com- 
mon Council,  which  had  no  power  to  act,  Mr.  Bard,  who  was  in  both 
Boards,  (Aldermen  and  Sinking  Fund,)  introduced  a  report  in  the 
former,  that  the  property  in  question  "  be  sold  to  D.  R.  Martin,  and 
that  it  be  referred  to  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  to  fix 
the  terms  and  price."  The  extraordinary  character  of  this  resolution, 
which  attempted  to  limit  the  city  to  a  single  purchaser,  attracted  im- 
mediate observation  ;  and  it  was  referred  back  to  the  Finance  Com- 
mittee, after  a  proposition  had  been  voted  down  to  sell  it  at  public 
auction  to  the  highest  bidder.  This  was  on  the  10th  of  last  Novem- 
ber. The  eyes  of  some  others  were  opened  to  this  proceeding  ;  and 
on  the  17 th,  Mr.  Bard's  colleague  on  the  Finance  Committee,  pre- 
sented the  petition  of  Reuben  Lovejov,  as  an  apparent  competing 
purchaser.  Mr.  Lovejoy  ultimately  procured  the  property  only  to 
transfer  it  immediately  to  Simeon  Draper.  A  few  other  knowing 
ones,  appearing  to  have  opposing  interests,  applied  for  it.  On  the 
24th  November,  the  resolution  was  again  presented  by  Alderman 
Bard,  slightly  altered.  It  provided  that  the  land  might  be  sold  to 
"  D.  R.  Martin,  or  either  of  the  other  applicants."  A  motion  for  a 
public  sale  was  again  made,  and  voted  down ;  but  the  members  had 
not  been  sufficiently  prepared  in  the  usual  manner  to  carry  the  pro- 
position, and  it  was  again  laid  on  the  table.  The  term  of  the  Com- 
missioners was  fast  drawing  to  a  close,  and  on  the  8th  of  December 
the  resolution  was  again  brought  up.  A  motion  was  made  to  strike  out 
the  words  either  of  the,  and  insert  any,  which  was  accepted,  and  the 


22 


resolution  passed.  The  first  step  in  this  illegal  and  disgraceful  transac- 
tion was  thus  taken.  It  passed  the  Board  of  Assistants  on  the  10th  of 
December,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Wells,  also  a  member  of  the  Sinking  Fund 
Board.  The  Mayor,  (Mr.  Kingsland,)  although  he  vetoed  the  resolution 
requiring  the  Sinkiug  Fund  Commissioners  to  stop  the  sale  of  most  of 
our  wharves  and  piers, — stating  in  his  message  that  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  Commissioners  were  prescribed  by  a  law  of  the  State, — 
allowed  this  resolution,  which  equally  interfered  with  those  duties, 
to  go  into  effect.  It  was  to  be  sold  now,  not  to  D.  R.  Martin  only, 
and  not  merely  "  to  either  of  the  applicants,"  but  to  "  D.  R.  Martin, 
or  any  other  applicant." 

A  system  of  peculiar  bidding  now  took  place.  It  i3  evident  that 
many  of  the  bids  were  put  in  to  show  that  there  had  been  competi- 
tion among  several  independent  bidders.  An  inspection  of  them 
shows  their  character.  The  body  of  three  (those  of  James  B.  Tay- 
lor, Reuben  Lovejoy,  and  S.  H.  Smith,)  are  in  the  handwriting  of 
the  former.  The  body  of  two  of  them,  (Silas  C.  Herring's  and  Ben- 
jamin Westlake's,)  are  in  the  handwriting  of  Herring.  Those  of 
Smith,  Taylor  and  Herring,  are  on  paper  with  the  same  stamp. 

The  bids  first  offered  were  as  follows  : 


A.  Van  Santvoord,  $108,000 

Dec.  20.— S.  H.  Smith,   115,000 

B.  Lloyd  Jones,   122,500 

Benjamin  Westlake,   125,090 

James  B.  Taylor,   130,000 

Reuben  Lovejoy,  (no  sum.) 


It  had,  we  learn,  been  determined  to  close  the  matter  so  that  it 
would  fall  to  Taylor  at  $130,000,  or  Lovejoy  at  the  same  sum,  (they 
were  the  same,)  but  one  of  the  Commissioners  inquired  if  bids  were 
open,  and  offered  $5,000  beyond  any  sum  contained  in  those  pro- 
posals.   The  sale  was  thus  frustrated,  and  the  Board  adjourned. 

After  that  meeting,  Mr.  A.  J.  Bleecker  examined  the  property  at 
the  request  of  the  Recorder,  and  valued  it  at  $300,000,  which  was 
stated  to  the  Board  when  they  met  again.  But  other  bids  were  re- 
ceived.  That  of  Mr.  Draper  was  as  follows  : 

New  York,  Dec.  27,  1852. 
To  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  : 

Gentlemen, — I  will  give  for  the  Corporation  property,  between 


23 


Ganzevoort,  Twelfth  street,  and  the  North  River,  one  hundred  and 
fortv  thousand  dollars,  or  such  sum  as  may  be  fixed  upon  by  your 
Board,  and  on  such  terms  as  you  may  fix  upon  the  same. 

S.  Draper. 

*Preston  H.  Hodges  bid  $132,000 

f  Silas  C.  Herring,   135,000 

Mr.  Tillou  moved  to  fix  the  value  at  $300,000,  but  he  was  voted 
down.  The  Commissioners  voted  to  fix  the  price  at  one  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  dollars,  and  declared  Reuben  Lovejoy  the  pur- 
chaser at  that  sum.  No  amount  was  named  in  his  bid.  The  follow- 
ing were  then  produced  by  Alderman  Bard : 

To  the  Honorable  the  Board  of  Sinking  Fund  Commissioners  of  the 
City  of  New  York. 

Gentlemen, — The  undersigned  is  an  applicant  for  the  purchase 
of  the  property  owned  by  the  Corporation,  situate  on  the  Hudson  or 
North  River,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  between  Ganzevoort  and 
Twelfth  street,  and  Tenth  and  Thirteenth  avenues,  and  should  your 
Board  award  the  sale  of  said  property  to  me,  I  hereby  authorize 
and  request  you  to  make  out  the  deed  for  the  same  to  Mr.  Simeon 
Draper,  who  will  comply  with  the  terms  thereof. 

Yery  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

Reuben  Lovejoy. 

New  York,  Dec.  20,  1852. 

"Witness,  Geo.  Oakes. 

To  Joseph  R.  Taylor,  Comptroller,  or  any  member  of  the  Sinking 
Fund  Commissioners. 

New  York,  Dec.  20th,  1852. 
To  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  of  the  City  of  New 
York. 

Gentlemen, — Should  the  proposition  made  by  Reuben  Lovejoy 
for  the  purchase  of  the  property  between  Twelfth  and  Ganzevoort 
streets  be  accepted,  I  hereby  authorize  him  to  transfer  the  purchase 
to  me;  the  payment  and  mortgage  will  be  given  by  me  upon  the 
rendering  of  the  title  by  the  city. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

S.  Draper. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  Mr.  Draper's  agreement  last  copied,  is 
dated  the  20th  of  December,  and  was  intended  to  apply  to  the  bids 
first  made,  but  it  was  used  after  the  price  had  been  raised,  and  after 
his  own  higher  bid  of  subsequent  date  was  made.  Mr.  James  B. 
Taylor  (who  wrote  Lovejoy's  bid)  has  since  received  a  deed  for  one- 


*  Taylor  boards  with  Hodges . 

t  Herring  and  Draper  are  brothers-in-law. 


third  of  this  property — a  fit  recipient  of  a  title  thus  acquired.  Four 

votes  were  required  to  carry  the  matter  ;  and  it  had  the  support  of 
Bard,  who  carried  the  resolution  in  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  of 
Wells,  who  carried  it  in  the  Board  of  Assistants,  of  the  Mayor,  who 
allowed  it  to  pass  without  his  veto,  and  of  the  Comptroller.  Mr. 
Tillou  was  voted  down  in  an  effort  to  procure  a  public  sale.  The 
transaction  was  immediately  carried  into  effect,  and  a  deed  for  the 
property  drawn  and  recorded  in  the  Comptroller's  office,  to  Mr. 
Draper,  who  gave  his  mortgage  for  three-fourths  of  the  purchase- 
money,  which  was  deposited  in  the  Register's  office.  Your  act  de- 
claring that  no  officer  of  the  Corporation  shall  be  interested  directly 
or  indirectly  in  the  purchase  of  "  any  real  estate,  or  other  property 
belonging  to  the  city,"  was  then  examined ;  and  the  Comptroller, 
whose  power  over  the  matter  had  then  terminated,  canceled  the 
deed,  without  order  or  authority,  satisfied  the  mortgage,  and  a  new 
deed  was  drawn  and  delivered  to  Joseph  B.  Varnum.  One  other 
third  of  the  land  has  since  been  conveyed  to  Mr.  Coleman,  of  the 
Astor  House.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  from  the  time  when  the 
application  of  Reuben  Lovejoy  was  first  made  to  the  Common  Coun- 
cil, on  the  17th  of  November,  there  was  a  plan  on  foot  to  sell  him 
this  property  as  the  tool  of  others  in  defiance  of  law,  and  that  it  wa3 
steadily  pursued  by  members  of  the  Common  Council  and  others, 
until  the  completion  of  the  sale.  The  most  extraordinary  influences 
could  alone  have  produced  this  remarkable  state  of  things.  Of  course, 
this  nefarious  transaction  will  be  ripped  up,  and  the  City  restored  to 
its  property ;  but  those  who  alone  have  power  to  authorize  a  suit, 
are  in  possession  of  the  city  government,  under  such  circumstances 
of  suspicion  in  regard  to  this  sale  that  no  such  step  can  be  expected 
from  them.  That  they  have  violated  the  following  section  of  the 
charter  received  from  your  hands,  many  suppose : 

"  Sec.  25th. — Any  officer  of  the  City  government,"  (the  Aldermen 
and  Assistan's  are,)  "or  person  or  persons  employed  in  any  depart- 
ment thereof,  who  shall  wilfully  violate  any  of  the  provisions  of  this 
charter,  or  commit  any  fraud,  or  convert  any  of  the  public  property 
to  his  own  use,  or  knowingly  permit  any  other  person  so  to  convert  it, 
shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  in  addition  to  the 
penalties  imposed  by  law,  shall  forfeit  his  office,  and  be  excluded 
forever  from  receiving  or  holding  any  office  under  the  city  charter." 

Gentlemen  of  the  Legislature :  In  addition  to  this  specific  wrong, 


25 


both  Boards  habitually  appoint  Committees  to  make  large  expendi- 
tures without  any  accountability,  and  -without  accounting ;  and  with- 
in the  last  year  they  have  performed  executive  business  of  this  cha- 
racter, in  express  defiance  of  another  provision  we  have  quoted.  But 
so  glaring  is  the  violation  of  the  law  we  have  presented,  that  more 
detail  is  unnecessary.  The  injury  extends  beyond  the  city  itself  to 
public  creditors,  and  is  calculated  to  affect  the  sanctity  of  those  pub- 
lic pledges  which  States  and  communities  give  when  they  borrow  the 
earnings  of  others.  The  voice  of  a  community,  whose  credit  and 
honor  are  its  wealth  and  most  valuable  possession,  rises  to  you,  to 
wipe  away  the  deep  stains  that  are  thus  inflicted,  (it  can  only  be 
done  by  hurling  such  servaRts  from  power,)  and  if  one  of  you  shall 
be  more  distinguished  than  the  rest  in  conferring  this  blessing,  it  may 
be  said  for  him,  as  was  said  of  the  great  Chatham,  that  "grateful 
honors  shall  cluster  around  his  name." 


WHO  IS  JOHX  DILLON  ? 

"Who  is  John  Dillon  ?" — In  asking  this  question  a  few  days  ago, 
we  had  no  conception  of  the  astounding  answer  which  has  been  pre- 
sented to  our  inquiries.  The  case  out  of  which  it  arose  looked  bad- 
ly on  its  face  ;  but  it  has  an  aspect  wholly  unexpected,  calling  for  in- 
vestigation and  punishment.  The  public  will  doubtless  ponder  over 
a  statement  of  the  facts. 

The  charter  of  1849  was  designed  to  establish  in  the  City  Govern- 
ment a  distinct  legislative  and  executive  establishment.  The  legis- 
lative power  was  defined  and  limited,  it  was  intended  to  be  deposited 
with  the  Common  Council.  The  executive  power  was  lodged  wholly 
in  the  Mayor,  the  heads  of  department,  and  certain  enumerated 
officers.  The  divisions  between  the  two  powers  were  precise  and 
unmistakable.  The  ninth  section  of  the  charter  declared  that  "  nei- 
ther the  Common  Council  nor  any  committee  or  member  thereof, 
shall  perform  any  executive  business  whatever,  except  such  as  is  or 
shall  be  imposed  on  them  by  the  laws  of  the  State,  and  except  that 
the  Board  of  Aldermen  may  approve  or  reject  the  nominations  made 
to  them  as  hereinafter  provided."  The  specification  of  two  distinct 
subjects  in  the  enumeration  of  what  is  excepted,  greatly  strengthens 
the  force  of  the  preceding  prohibition.  The  offence  to  which  we  in- 
•2 


26 


tend  now  to  call  your  attention,  fellow-citizens,  is,expressly  prohib- 
ited by  the  plain  language  and  obvious  intent  of  the  charter  of  1849 
in  the  provision  quoted.  It  is  equally  against  _the  language  and 
meaning  of  the  succeeding  section,  which  provides  that  the  Finance 
Department  "  shall  settle  and  adjust  all  claims  whatsoever  by  the 
Corporation  or  against  them,  and  all  accounts  in  which  the  Corpora- 
tion is  concerned,  either  as  debtor  or  creditor."  Those  who  have  fol- 
lowed the  disgusting  exhibitions  with  which  we  have  been  compell- 
ed to  load  our  columns,  will  recollect  the  clause  which  declares  the 
punishment  for  a  wilful  violation  of  those  provisions.  "VYe  repeat  it, 
however,  that  it  may  be  applied  to  the  facts  of  this  case  : — 

Sec.  25.  Any  officer  of  the  city  government,  or  person  or  persons 
emploved  in  any  department  thereof,  who  shall  wilfully  violate  any 
of  the  provisions  of  this  charter,  or  commit  any  fraud,  or  convert  any 
of  the  public  property  to  his  own  use,  or  knowingly  induce  any 
other  to  convert  it,  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  in 
addition  to  the  penalties  imposed  by  law,  shall  forfeit  his  office,  and 
be  excluded  forever  after  from  receiving  or  holding  any  office  under 
the  city  charter. 

A  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  of  which  "Wesley 
Smith  was  Chairman,  and  of  the  Board  of  Assistants,  of  which 
Charles  H.  Ring  was  Chairman,  were  appointed  in  June  last,  to  per- 
form jointly  a  certain  service.  They  immediately  organized  in  the 
performance  of  the  duty,  and  made  an  expenditure  of  four  thousand 
two  hundred  dollars.  All  the  contracts  were  made  by  the  Commit- 
tee, the  bills  were  rendered  to  and  audited  by  them,  and  they  were 
paid  by  the  officers  on  the  sole  action  and  responsibility  of  the  Com- 
mittee. The  expenditures  of  a  similar  character  were  large  during 
the  year,  and  it  is  probable  that  each  case  will  exhibit  many  enormi- 
ties of  the  character  of  that  we  are  now  exposing.  The  principal 
subjects  on  which  Committees  thus  performed  executive  and  also 
auditing  duties,  were  the  funerals  of  Messrs.  Clay  and  Webster,  the 
various  junketing  operations  of  the  year,  and  the  celebration  of  our 
National  Anniversary.  The  expense  of  the  latter,  which  came  with- 
in the  pervieu  of  the  Committee,  were  $2,542  in  1851 ;  but  as  the 
corruptions  of  the  members  increased,  the  expenses  were  increased, 
so  that  in  1852,  they  amounted  to  $4,113,58. 

Among  the  bills  was  one  purporting  to  be  that  of  John  Dillon,  of 
$300,  for  fireworks  alleged  to  have  been  furnished  at  Randall's  Is- 


27 


land.  The  bill  was  in  the  hand-writing  of  Wesley  Smith,  and,  upon 
looking  at  the  endorsement  on  the  back  of  the  check  given  by  the 
City,  we  were  struck  with  the  remarkable  similarity  in  hand-writing. 
"We  were  struck  also  with  another  fact,  viz. :  that  below  the  endorse- 
ment were  the  initials,  such  as  receiving  tellers  affix  on  checks  depo- 
sited, of  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Assistants, 
Charles  H.  Ring.  "We  desired  the  Comptroller,  Mr.  Flagg,  to  ascer- 
tain from  his  clerk,  to  whom  the  check  had  been  delivered,  and  were 
told  to  Mr.  Wesley  Smith.  On  the  strength  of  these  facts,  we  in- 
quired of  the  public  who  is  John  Dillon,  and  the  following  is  the  ans- 
wer : 

"  The  Editors : — In  Saturday's  paper  you  inquire,  "  Who  is  John 
Dillon  V  He  is  a  young  dentist ;  his  office  is  in  Hudson  street,  near 
Dominick  street,  and  is  the  brother-in-law  of  Wesley  Smith,  Alderman 
of  the  \\th  Ward.    Monday,  31st  January,  1853." 

Wishing  to  be  sure  of  matters  of  this  character,  a  skilful  person  was 
asked  merely  to  take  the  note  and  ascertain  its  truth.  His  answer 
(which  we  do  not  in  part  understand)  is  as  follows  : 

"  Mr.  Butler, — This  John  Dillon,  dentist,  has  his  sign  up  at  250 

Hudson  street,  next  to  the  corner  of  Broome.    Mr.  ,  on  Hudson 

stieet,  says  he  understands  that  Mr.  Dillon  is  a  brother-in-law  of  Wes- 
ley Smith,  lumber  merchant,  <tc. 

"  Mr.  ,  corner  of  Broome,  says  Mr.  Dillon  has  lately  returned 

from  California ;  knows  nothing  particularly  as  to  John  Dillon  s  res- 
ponsibility, but  if  the  endorsement  of  Alderman  Smith,  his  brother-in- 
law,  could  be  obtained,  he  would  think  it  safe. 

"  This  information  can  be  relied  on,  I  think,  and  I  suppose  is  suffic- 
ient for  your  purpose. 

"February  2, 1853." 

Upon  these  extraordinary  facts  comment  is  unnecessary.  Whether 
or  not  the  case  is  one  of  a  large  class,  will  probably  be  developed  in 
the  exhibitions  to  be  made  by  Mr.  Flagg,  in  respect  to  expenses  of 
this  character,  in  his  annual  report,  with  the  effect  of  which  we  do  not 
wish  to  interfere,  by  a  premature  disclosure  of  what  he  has  ascer- 
tained and  will  present.  The  following  are  copies  of  the  voucher  and 
check  which  appear  as  the  only  authority  and  evidence  of  this  pay- 
ment : 

Bill  for  Fire  Works. 


28 

v 

John  Dillon   Randall's  Island,  300 

{Endorsed  on  the  back.) 

Approved. 
"Wesley  Smith, 
C.  H.  Ring, 
W.  M.  Tweed. 
Oscar  W.  Stutevant, 
Thos.  J.  Barr, 
S.  L.  H.  Ward, 

The  following  is  the  check  : 
New  York,  July  21,  1852.  No.  3353.  $300 

To  the  Treasurer  of  the  City  of  New  York  at  the 
MECHANICS'  BANK, 

Pay  John  Dillon,  or  order,  three  hundred  dollars,  for  fire  works  4th 
July. 

A.  C.  Kingsland,  Mayor. 
D.  T.  Valentine,  Clerk. 

Jos.  B.  Taylor,  Comptroller. 
(endorsed) 
JOHN  DILLON, 
C.  H.  R, 

This  voucher  is  marked  in  the  margin,  "  contingencies." 

This  is  a  specimen,  citizens  of  New  York,  of  the  manner  in  which 
(through  the  action  of  Committees  expressly  prohibited  from  exercis- 
ing auditing  and  executive  power,)  you  have  been  bleeding  at  an  ar- 
tery. The  men  who  thus  use  the  hard  earnings  of  our  industry,  still 
meet  in  legislative  halls,  still  sit  on  the  bench  which  tries  criminals, 
and  continue  their  wrongs  and  depredations ;  and  there  are  those  med- 
itating reform,  who  fear  to  raise  the  issue  before  you  whether  such 
representatives  shall  go  on  in  their  misdeeds,  or  be  hurled  from  office 
by  your  indignant  action  at  the  polls,  at  a  new  election  to  be  applied 
for  to  the  Legislature.  If  there  can  be  any  sympathy  in  the  Legisla- 
ture for  such  acts,  let  the  sympathy  be  known  to  the  public.  The 
sweep  of  reform  will  ultimately  embrace  all  who  thus  violate  the 
law,  and  all  who  approve  the  violation.  Failure  to  dissent,  is  con- 
sent. No  question  more  certain  to  arouse  the  animation  and  indig- 
nation of  the  people  can  be  presented,  than  one  of  this  character.  It 
is  weakness,  criminal  weakness,  to  refuse  to  the  City  the  opportunity 
speedily  to  speak  through  their  united  ballots,  against  the  monstrous 
wrongs  that  we  suffer.    Wrongs  that  must  be  corrected,  and  also 


29 


punished,  or  we  shall  be  sunk  in  infamy  "deeper  than  did  plummet 
ever  sound." 


CORPORATION  JOBS. 

Nearly  8500,000  wasted. 
Some  years  ago,  Mr.  Charles  F.  Grim,  then  a  member  of  the  bar, 
commenced,  on  his  own  behalf,  the  work  of  making  an  index  of  all 
deeds  relating  to  city  property,  with  a  view  to  aid  in  the  examina- 
tion of  titles.  It  was  a  work  of  great  consequence  to  the  owners  of 
real  estate,  as  it  was  calculated  to  diminish  the  expense  which  at- 
tended a  transfer  of  property ;  and  the  bar  was  unanimous  in  desir- 
ing that  it  should  be  completed.  The  person  then  in  charge  of  the 
Register's  office  stopped  Mr.  Grim,  after  he  had  collected  materials 
for  a  single  printed  volume,  on  the  ground  that  the  work  would  in- 
terfere with  his  perquisites.  A  single  printed  volume  alone  remains 
to  show  the  character  of  the  work.  The  author  of  it  is  a  man  of 
great  industry,  remarkable  not  only  for  his  precision  and  care,  but 
for  the  highest  integrity  and  for  many  valuable  attainments  ;  and  it 
has  been  ever  a  subject  of  regret  to  the  bar  that  his  work  was  not 
finished.  An  index  made  by  such  a  man  would  be  relied  on  as  ac- 
curate, and  it  would  obviate  the  enormous  delays  and  the  vast  ex- 
pense incident  to  the  examination  of  titles.  The  accomplishment  of 
the  work  has  ever  since  been  the  object  of  desire ;  and  Mr.  Tillou, 
Recorder  of  the  City,  in  the  month  of  May,  1852,  took  the  incipient 
steps  in  the  Board  of  Supervisors  to  set  the  work  in  motion.  He 
had  no  sooner  opened  the  eyes  of  the  jobbers  in  the  Board  (they  are 
also  Aldermen)  to  this  subject,  than  they  determined  to  use  it  as 
they  have  every  other  power  within  their  grasp.  The  Index,  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind,  is  only  valuable  from  its  entire  accuracy  ;  it 
must  not  only  be  accurate,  it  must  be  known  to  be  so  ;  it  will  be 
worthless  paper  if  inaccurate.  A  lawyer  expert  in  the  service  of 
examining  titles,  and  competent  to  devise  the  mode  of  performing 
such  a  work  with  skill  and  care,  would  have  selected  a  person  like 
Mr.  Grim,  (he  has  now,  we  think,  retired  from  the  profession,)  and 
paid  him  a  salary  for  his  labors,  and  a  proper  sum  for  such  persons 
as  he  should  employ.    The  duty  of  arranging  this  important  matter 


30 


fell  into  the  hands  of  two  aldermen — Wesley  Smith  and  Thomas  J. 
Barr. 

It  would  have  cost,  managed  on  the  plan  pursued  by  Mr.  Grim, 
from  thirty  to  forty  thousand  dollars.  We  learn  that  it  has  been 
jobbed  out,  -without  advertisement,  and  without  proper  proposals,  at 
an  expense  of  about  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  contract 
we  saw  yesterday  :  it  was  signed,  sealed,  and  delivered,  in  the  month 
of  November  last. 

On  looking  at  the  Comptroller's  Report,  we  found  that  the  cost  of 
a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  principal  agent  of  the  Collins  line,  and  some 
others  connected  with  its  establishment,  had  been  about  eight  hun- 
dred dollars ;  of  a  similar  vote  to  the  Hudson  River  Railroad  Di- 
rectors, about  the  same.  The  Erie  Railroad  Directors  had  a  like 
honor  conferred  on  them  at  about  the  same  expense.  The  certifi- 
cates presented  to  the  individual  Directors  were  handsomely  got  up 
and  framed.  We  had  the  curiosity  to  ask  who  had  received  these 
large  amounts  for  this  service,  and  learnt  that  it  was  Arthur  &  Bur- 
net, stationers,  in  Wall  street. 

The  contract  for  making  the  Index  was  also  made  with  Arthur  & 
Burnet.  What  Counsel  drew  it,  we  know  not ;  but  its  features  show 
a  most  decided  willingness  to  put  the  city  in  the  power  of  the  con- 
tractors. It  is  as  disgraceful  to  the  author,  whoever  he  may  be,  as 
are  the  ordinances  regulating  the  fees  of  the  Counsel. 

Messrs.  Arthur  &  Burnet  agree  "  to  collate  and  prepare  a  perfect, 
true,  and  correct  index  of  the  records  in  the  said  Register'  office, 
after  the  same  are  coined  from  the  records,  and  to  execute  the  same  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  said  Committee  on  County  offices.''''  They  are 
to  do  the  work  "of  the  best  materials,  and  as  soon  as  possible ;" 
and  the  Corporation  is  to  "  pay  or  advance  such  sum  or  sums  of 
money  as  may  be  required,  not  to  exceed  the  amount  which  may  be 
estimated  as  due  at  the  time  of  such  payment." 

"  After  the  same  are  copied  from  the  records !"  At  the  very 
outset,  there  is  a  claim  that  the  Corporation  shall  make  these  copies; 
and  we  learn  that  the  city  is  to  pay  for  this,  or  does  pay,  in  addition 
to  the  contract  price  !  "  To  the  satisfaction  of  the  said  Committee 
on  County  offices !"  Mr.  Ward  is  named  with  the  other  two  alder- 
men as  the  parties  to  the  contract ;  but  he  did  not  sign.  The  two 
others  constitute  a  majority,  and  do  sign.  Think  of  the  service  likely 


31 


to  be  rendered  in  this  delicate  matter  by  Wesley  Smith,  a  lumber 

dealer,  and  Thomas  J.  Barr,  a  keeper  of  a  livery  stable  ! 

The  work  to  be  done  "  as  soon  as  possible !"  What  does  this 
mean  ?  It  is  wholly  indefinite.  No  two  will  agree  as  to  its  mean- 
ing. 

"  The  Corporation  to  pay  or  advance  such  sum  or  sums  of  money 
as  may  be  required  /"    Required  by  whom  ? 

There  are  no  provisions  for  putting  the  copyright  in  the  hands  of 
the  city ;  but  a  contract,  so  loose  and  disgraceful  as  to  be  fraudulent, 
was  made  for  this  important  object. 

The  number  of  record  books  is  now  six  hundred  and  thirty.  For 
furnishing  materials,  blanks,  <fec,  for  copyists,  and  preparing  the  in- 
dex, the  rate  fixed  is  $16  per  volume  of  records;  for  1000  sets  of 
index  complete,  $5  10  per  page  for  first  250  copies,  and  §4  20  per 
page  for  the  next  250,  and  at  the  same  rate  for  the  residue  and  any 
f  urther  number ;  for  binding  in  Russia  and  calf,  $3  50  per  volume  of 
500. 

It  is  estimated  there  will  be  17  volumes.  An  expert  has  estima- 
ted the  whole  amount  at  8225,130  over  and  above  what  the  eity 
will  be  required  to  pay  out  for  preparing  the  copies. 

It  is  said  in  justification  of  this  job,  that  the  City  will  receive,  on 
the  sale  of  the  books,  a  sufficient  sum  to  pay  baek  the  expected  out- 
lay. Such  was  the  argument  under  which  the  State  expended  be- 
tween four  and  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  its  "  Natural  His- 
tory," as  it  is  called,  when  only  about  twenty  thousand  dollars  were 
received  from  sales.  But  our  alarms  are  most  excited  from  the  ex- 
pected character  of  a  work  let  out  as  a  job,  and  to  be  superintended 
by  such  persons  as  are  named  in  the  contract. 

In  the  appropriations  made  out  by  the  late  Comptroller,  and  pass- 
ed by  the  Common  Council,  in  order  to  be  sent  to  the  present  Legis- 
lature, there  is  an  item  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  cover  the  expected 
expenditure  within  the  present  year.  The  Legislature  will  be  asked 
to  confirm  this  bargain,  and  tax  the  labors  of  our  citizens  and  their 
hard  earned  property  to  pay  for  such  abuses  of  power.  The  Board 
of  Supervisors,  by  the  terms  of  the  resolution  adopted,  authorized  a 
committee  to  make  the  bargain,  without  specifying  any  terms.  They 
voted  down  motions  to  advertise  for  proposals.,  and  other  motions  to 
ascertain,  in  advance,  the  expected  cost,  so  that  some  rule  should  be 


32 


formed  by  -which  a  contract  might  be  made.  In  thus  delegating- their 
powers  to  others,  they  hare  clearly  violated  the  law  prescribing  their 
powers.  Rut  even  the  Board  of  Supervisors  itself  had  no  authority 
to  make  the  contract.  Their  powers  are  prescribed  by  a  general  law 
applicable  to  all  such  bodies  in  the  State,  in  which  nothing  of  this 
character  is  specified,  or  justified  under  any  general  grant.  They 
are  a  supervisory  body,  and  adjust  accounts,  and  determine  the  rate 
of  taxation;  but  the  expenditures  proceed  from  another  source,  the 
Common  Council.  In  1826,  authority  was  specially  conferred  on  the 
clerks  of  counties,  to  have  general  indexes  prepared  ;  but  uo  author- 
ity was  conferred  to  print,  and  the  City  of  jN"ew  York  was  expressly 
excepted  from  the  operation  of  the  Act.  The  Supervisors  of  those 
counties  (other  than  New  York)  were  authorized  to  adjust  the  bills. 
In  1845  or  6,  an  act  was  passed  that  the  Supervisors  of  the  City 
might  authorize  copies  to  be  made  of  mutilated  records,  which,  when 
certified  by  them,  might  have  the  force  of  originals.  This  is  the  ex- 
tent to  which  such  legislation  has  been  earried,  which  clearly  shows 
a  defect  of  power  to  do  what  the  Committee  has  undertaken.  They 
have  contracted  to  print  seventeen  thousand  volumes  of  a  work  as 
foreign  to  their  duties  as  possible,  and  expect  to  go  into  the  market 
as  sellers.  With  Collins,  Bowne  &  Co.  another  contract  has  been 
made,  for  preparing  and  printing  a  digested  index  of  wills  ;  and  with 
some  other  person,  an  index  of  the  deeds  and  judgments  in  the  Coun- 
ty Clerk's  office ;  or  the  latter  is  in  the  course  of  preparation.  The 
City  must  first,  according  to  these  contracts,  prepare  a  statement  of 
each  deed,  the  parties,  its  date,  the  property  conveyed,  tfcc,  and  the 
matter  then  goes  into  the  hands  of  the  contractors.  The  preliminary 
work  is  now  being  done,  under  the  direction  of  that  Committee. — 
There  are  four  persons  at  work  in  the  Register's  office,  five  in  the 
Surrogate's,  and  two  in  the  County  Clerk's  office,  in  this  service. 
For  its  accuracy  no  one  is  responsible,  except  Messrs.  Smith  and  Bam 
It  constitutes  the  entire  groundwork  of  the  whole.  The  errors  that 
exist  must  necessarily  appear  in  the  subsequent  work,  and  be  fatal  to 
its  character.  We  notify  these  parties,  that  they  are  proceeding 
without  warrant  of  law,  and  that  the  moneys  of  the  City  cannot,  un- 
der such  circumstances,  be  applied  to  compensate  them.  The  whole  job 
will  cost  near  half  a  million  of  dollars. 

We  have  urged  yoa,  fellow  citizens,  earnestly  and  often,  to  arous* 


33 


from  your  indifference  and  put  can  end  to  such  iniquities.  We  have 
reason  to  hope  that  a  day  of  deliverance  is  fast  dawning  upon  you. 
The  Legislature  have  watched  what  is  going  on.  They  have  sent 
encouraging  assurances  to  our  honest  citizens;  urged  speedy  and  ef- 
ficient action  on  our  part,  and  promised  to  do  their  duty,  after  such 
incipient  steps  have  been  taken  here,  as  shall  authorize  them  to  act. 
Act  soon.  Act  boldly.  The  detestation  of  fraud  and  crime  is  yet 
deep  seated  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  when  appealed  to  by  a  whole 
community,  will  be  answered  promptly  and  with  effect.  Be  satisfied 
with  nothing  but  a  speedy  termination  of  the  official  career  of  those 
who  have  stamped  disgrace  upon  us,  and  such  organic  measures  a3 
will  stop  further  corruption.  If  you  hesitate  in  this  great  duty,  you 
will  disgrace  those  from  whose  loins  you  sprang,  and  leave  the  inher- 
itance of  your  own  dishonor  to  your  children. 


PRIVATE  SALE  OF  CORPORATION  PROPERTY  AT  IM- 
MENSE SACRIFICE,  TO  SCHMIDT,  DURFEE  &  CO. 

Books  Erased,  Interlined,  dkc. 

The  Sinking  Fund  Commissioners,  during  the  past  year,  were 
Ambrose  C.  Kingsland,  Mayor,  F.  R.  Tillou,  Recorder,  Joseph  R. 
Taylor,  Comptroller,  Shepherd  Knapp,  City  Chamberlain,  Alderman 
James  M.  Bard,  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Board  of 
Aldermen,  and  Assistant  H.  M.  Wells,  Chairman  of  the  Finance 
Committee  of  the  Board  of  Assistants.  They  were  charged  by  law 
with  the  express  duty  of  preserving  the  funds  and  property  ap- 
plicable to  the  public  debt,  and  stood  in  this  safe  position,  that 
the  ordinances  prescribing  their  duties  had,  by  the  Legislature, 
been  declared  incapable  of  change  by  the  Corporation.  They  were 
authorized  to  sell  the  real  estate  of  the  city  not  in  use,  but  the 
power  was  fettered  by  many  safeguards,  to  secure  open,  fair, 
public  sales.  As  the  official  term  of  the  late  Comptroller  was 
drawing  to  a  close,  an  activity  wholly  unusual  took  place  in  this 
department,  and  so  numerous  were  the  deeds  and  water  grants 
that  the  clerks  of  the  late  counsel  were  turned  into  recording  of- 
ficers in  the  Comptroller's  office.  It  will  be  recollected  that  among 
the  contemplated  sales  was  the  sale  of  a  large  number  of  piers 
and  docks,  which  was  to  have  been  public,  a  sale  that  was  cut  off 


84 


"by  the  actios  of  the  Courts.  Complaints  were  made  by  pefs&na 
who  desired  to  purchase  that  proper  information,  in  respect  to  the 
matter  could  not  be  obtained  freni  the  Comptroller,  and  it  is  pro- 
bable, if  not  certain,  that  in  defeating  the  sale,  a  system  of  favorit- 
ism smd  fraud  were  defeated,  under  which  that  immense  property 
would  have  produced  much  less  than  its  actual  value.  The  sales 
actually  mads  privately  within  this  period,  were  made  in  defiance 
of  all  prudence  and  propriety,  and  we  do  not  see  from  an  inspec- 
tion of  the  minutes,  that  any  of  the  Commissioners  fully  performed 
their  duty  to  the  public.  Some  of  them  are  reprehensible  for  acts 
of  omission,  the  others  for  acts  of  commission.  In  the  index  of  Mr. 
Grim,  to  which  we  referred  a  few  days  ago,  he  observes  in  the 
preface  that  a  single  case  illustrates  a  principle.  We  shall  present 
in  detail  this  morning  the  case  of  a  sale  to  a  person  whose  resi- 
dence and  occupation  we  cannot  ascertain,  Mr.  Robert  A.  Durfee.  On 
its  face  there  are  many  circumstances  of  suspicion.  When  the  late 
Comptroller  was  a  candidate  for  re-election,  he  thus  in  the  early 
part  of  last  year  addressed  the  public : — "  The  wharves  and  piers 
and  the  real  estate  belonging  to  the  Corporation  are  worth  (exclusive 
of  the  Croton  Aqueduct  and  Reservoir)  more  than  nineteen,  millions  ; 
are  also  pledged  for  the  redemption  of  the  city  debt ;  thus  placing 
the  credit  of  the  city  beyond  the  reach  of  suspicion,  and  furnishing 
the  most  undoubted  security  for  the  redemption  of  its  stocks  and 
loans  as  they  become  due."  This  encomium  upon  our  credit  is  fol- 
lowed with  a  specific  valuation  of  property.  The  bulkhead  and  wa- 
ter right  sold  to  Mr.  Durfee  heads  the  list : 

'*  120  feet  of  bulkhead  between  Bank  and  Hammond  street,  $25,000  " 
The  Comptroller,  with  commendable  prudence,  placed  it  below  it» 
actual  value.  The  city  owned  the  upland  and  pre-emptive  right.  It 
is  probably  worth  now  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  thousand  dollars. 
This  land  was  sold  in  December  (the  sale  consummated  about  the 
time  of  that  of  the  Fort  Gansevoort  property)  for  twelve  thou- 
sand dollars.  It  was  a  private  sale.  All  the  Commissioners  were 
present.  All  joined  in  the  act.  Some  of  them  knew  well  its  va- 
lue, others  of  them  probably  did  not ;  but  each  was  bound  in  the 
performance  of  the  high  trust  with  which  he  was  invested,  to  as- 
certain it.    The  valuation  put  on  it  by  Mr.  Ludlum,  and  adopted 


35 


by  the  Comptroller,  was  published  in  the  annual  report  of  the  lat- 
ter, a  document  with  which  the  Commissioners  of  the  Fund  should 
have  been  familiar.  The  minutes  throw  but  little  light  on  the 
transaction,  but  they  show  a  carelessness  in  proceeding,  not  common 
in  important  matters. 

Dec.  6,  1852. — '-The  Comptroller  presented  the  following  appli- 
cations, which  were  referred  to  the  Comptroller  and  Street  Com- 
missioner. The  application  of  /.  W.  Schmidt,  Jr.,  for  water  grant  on 
the  North  River  between  Bank  and  Hammond  street." 

The  law  required  a  minimum  valuation  in  advance  of  a  sale,  and 
this  was  deemed  a  compliance  with  the  provision.  The  Street 
Commissioner  was  not  a  member  of  the  Board,  but  he  was  required 
by  law  to  un\Je  in  fixing  the  minimum.  No  written  report  was  pre- 
sented, but  on  the  back  of  the  application  there  are  figures,  which 
we  are  told  constituted  the  report.    The  minutes  then  proceed : — 

"  Dec.  10. — "  The  Comptroller  presented  the  report  of  the  Comp- 
troller and  Street  Commissioner  on  the  application  of  J.  W.  Schmidt, 
Jr.,  for  water  grant  on  the  North  River  between  Bank  and  Hammond 
streets,  whereupon  it  was 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Comptroller  be  authorized  to  issue  a  grant 
for  land  under  water  on  the  North  River,  between  Bank  and  Ham- 
mond streets,  120  feet  front  on  West  street,  from  the  S.  W,  corner 
of  Bank  and  West  streets,  extending  to  the  exterior  line  of  the  city 
now  fixed,  and  containing  the  usual  covenants  to  Robert  A.  Durfee, 
per  order  of  J.  W.  Schmidt,  Jr.,  at  the  rate  of  8100  per  foot  running 
measure — subject  to  a  lease  on  the  bulkhead  to  May  1st,  1853." 

On  examining  the  record  book  in  the  Comptroller's  office,  the 
grantee's  name  (Robert  A.  Durfee)  is  written  on  an  erasure.  The 
deed  must  have  been  drawn  in  the  first  place,  and  recorded  there  in 
another  name,  but  for  some  reason  the  latter  was  erased  and  Durfee's 
substituted.  The  minutes  of  the  Sinking  Fund  Commissioners  were 
interlined  with  the  words  "  Robert  A.  Durfee,  per  order  of,"  which 
appear  above  in  italics.  In  the  margin  of  the  minutes,  the  word 
"  Davies"  appears.  The  papers  were  doubtless  handed  to  him  to 
complete ;  he  drew  a  deed,  conveying  absolutely  to  Durfee,  the  land, 
and  one-half  the  street  beyond,  making  150  feet,  reserving  to  the 
public  the  right  of  passage  over  it,  and  whatever  wharfage  might 
accrue  from  the  30  feet  of  bulkhead  at  the  end  of  the  street.  The 
mode  of  conveyance,  it  will  readily  appear  to  lawyers,  was  exceed- 
ingly desirable  to  the  purchaser  in  its  influence  on  what  will  be 


36 


gained  from  the  river  in  front  of  Bank  street.  The  deed  was  ac- 
knowledged on  the  memorable  30th  of  December,  and  was  recorded 
by  the  clerk  of  Davies.  The  sale  to  Durfee  for  himself  or  others, 
embraced  the  land  under  Avater,  beginning  from  the  present  bulkhead 
on  West  street,  and  extending  410  feet  out  into  the  river,  (equal  to 
over  32  lots  of  60  feet  deep,)  with  the  right  to  wharfage  and  dockage 
on  the  exterior  line.  It  was  a  violation  of  those  careful  and  neces- 
sary provisions  of  law  which  required  a  public  sale  of  the  premises. 
It  was  a  violation  of  prudence  in  parting  from  ground  which  the 
city  needed  for  depositing  the  rubbish  (earth  and  ashes)  collected  in 
the  vicinity,  and  by  means  of  which  it  must  necessarily  be  rapidly 
filled  up  without  expense,  and  be  made  a  valuable  piece  of  property. 
The  purchasers  are  to  make  the  necessary  streets  (th«y  will  be  made 
by  those  means)  and  pave  and  repair  them.  The  bulkhead  in  front 
they  are  also  to  build.  There  are  parties,  we  learn,  who  would  pay 
for  the  property,  subject  to  these  conditions,  from  thirty  to  thirty- 
five  thousand  dollars.  Numerous  grants  that  were  legal,  so  far  as 
the  power  is  concerned,  and  sales  that  were  wholly  illegal  and  wrong, 
were  also  made.  Mr.  Edmund  Griffin  (late  an  alderman)  was  a  pur-v 
chaser,  at  a  low  price,  of  a  water  grant  (with  unusual  and  improper 
provisions)  on  West  street.  Mr.  Smith,  father  of  the  alderman 
Wesley  Smith),  was  a  purchaser  of  a  wharf  at  the  foot  of  Stanton 
street.  Much  of  that  property  represented  by  the  Comptroller  in 
this  report  as  "furnishing  the  most  undoubted  security  for  the  redemp- 
tion" of  the  city  debt,  and  on  which  the  city  relied  "  to  place  its  cre- 
dit beyond  the  reach  of  suspicion"  was  sold,  and  there  seems  to  have 
been  no  efficient  effort  to  prevent  it. 

In  the  case  of  the  sale  of  the  Fort  Gansevoort  property,  Mr.  Til- 
Ion  moved  to  fix  the  valuation  at  $300,000,  at  which  it  had  been  va- 
lued, instead  of  8160,000,  at  which  it  was  sold,  and  he  also  moved  to 
make  the  sale  public,  in  which  it  is  understood  that  he  was  supported 
by  Mr.  Knapp,  but  it  does  not  appear  on  the  minutes.  The  propo- 
sition was  voted  down. 

It  is  no  idle  motive  that  prompts  us  to  place  before  you  the  names 
of  men  of  high  standing  and  wide  influence,  in  order  that  you  may 
require  them  to  explain  their  conduct.  This  Board  of  Commissioners 
has  not  been  equal  to  the  duty  required  of  them  in  a  trust  of  the  high- 
est magnitude.    They  have  set  an  example  which  must  be  so  repro- 


37 


bated  that  those  who  follow  shall  act  in  a  wholly  different  manner. 
The  property  should  in  all  these  cases  be  recovered  and  restored  to 
the  Sinking  Fund. 

There  is  a  still  higher  duty  imposed  on  the  community.  The  city 
must  be  reformed.  Reformed  by  expelling  from  power  quickly  and 
forever  such  men  as  remain  in  the  Common  Council,  and  whose  in- 
fluence is  at  the  bottom  of  every  act  of  omission  and  commission  by 
which  our  present  condition  has  been  reached.  There  are  those  (men 
of  substance  and  influence  in  both  parties)  who  have  deserted  their 
duty  as  citizens  for  years  past,  and  connived  by  their  silence  and  in- 
difference at  the  present  state  of  things.  It  is  through  their  neglect 
that  a  government  capable  of  conferring  manifold  blessings  has  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  sharpers  and  robbers,  who  rely  on  the  disgraceful 
love  of  ease  so  generally  manifested,  to  perpetuate  them  in  that  vil- 
lany  by  which  they  thrive.  Be  no  longer  disgraced  by  such  inaction. 
You  may  yet  do  some  service  that  will  entitle  you  to  grateful  honors. 
Unite  with  those  who  are  now  engaged  in  the  work  of  reform.  But 
whatever  you  do,  do  it  on  a  thorough  plan.  Great  evils  require 
great  remedies.  Reform  your  charter  as  you  did  in  1849.  Cut  off, 
as  you  did  then,  the  term  of  Aldermen.  Put  others  in  their  place. 
The  rapid  steps  of  the  city  towards  disgrace — in  which  all  are  in- 
volved, and  which  will  soon  weaken  every  trust — will  then  be  arrest- 
ed, and  our  government  put  on  a  track  to  save  our  property  from 
sacrifice,  our  franchises  from  forfeiture,  our  streets  from  appropria- 
tion to  private  objects,  and  that  will  check  the  demoralization  which 
threatens  such  wide  disaster.  "We  shall  presently  turn  you  from 
these  disgusting  details  to  the  contemplation  of  an  officer  (Mr.  Flagg) 
who  is  meeting  many  of  these  abuses  with  courage  and  effect,  an  of- 
ficer who  will  be  swept  from  power  by  the  Common  Council  under 
theif  powers  of  impeachment  and  suspension,  on  the  adjournment  of 
the  Legislature,  if  the  fate  intended  for  him  be  not  visited  upon  them. 
The  battle  with  corruption  is  fairly  commenced.  Be  firm,  and  the 
victory  will  be  yours. 

MORE  WATER  LOT  BUSINESS. 
Quick  work  on  the  28th,  29th  and  30th  December. 
On  the  29th  of  December  last,  John  Cox  signed  with  other  parties 
a  receipt  for  $9,786  89-100,  for  costs  of  the  Commissioners,  (of 


88 


whom  he  -was  one,)  and  of  the  counsel,  Henry  E.  Davies,  on  the 
opening  of  the  Eleventh  Avenue.  The  persons  selected  for  these 
positions  are  some  of  them  nominated  and  controlled  by  the  counsel. 
On  reading  his  name,  it  became  impressed  on  our  memory.  Yester- 
terday,  on  inspecting  the  minutes  of  the  Sinking  Fund  Commission- 
ers of  the  same  29th  of  December,  it  again  appeared.  It  was  in  a 
resolution  agreeing  to  sell  to  him,  as  assignee  of  the  owner  of  the 
upland,  the  land  next  South  of  the  Fort  Gansevoort  property  sold  to 
Draper.  The  circumstances  prompted  an  examination  of  the  matter. 
The  land  is  under  water,  and  when  gained  from  the  river  will  con- 
stitute sixteen  lots  of  81  feet  8£  inches  deep.  In  front  of  it,  on  the 
exterior  line,  there  will  be  a  bulkhead  of  81  feet  8£  inches.  The 
City,  in  May  last,  made  an  agreement  to  build  that  bulkhead  at  the 
price  of  $9,49*7  04-100,  of  which  it  had  paid  on  the  15th  December 
last,  on  account  of  the  work  done,  $7,122  78-100,  leaving  $2,374 
26-100  to  be  paid  when  it  is  completed,  which  it  soon  will  be.  On 
the  completion  of  the  bulkhead,  the  property  will  immediately  be  in 
condition  for  filling  in,  winch  will  speedily  be  done  afterwards  with- 
out cost.  When  filled  in  it  will  be  worth  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Fifty  Thousand  dollars.  It  was  sold  by  the  Sinking  Fund  Com- 
missioners to  John  Cox  for  $4085  04-100,  on  the  condition  express- 
ed in  their  minutes,  that  he  was  "  to  pay  for  the  bulkhead  in  front  of 
the  same,  as  contracted  for  by  the  Street  Commissioners."  The  deed 
for  it,  (it  was  not  a  grant  for  rent  reserved,)  was  drawn  by  Mr. 
Davies,  recorded  by  his  clerk,  and  the  transaction  was  completed  on 
the  day  of  the  completion  of  the  Fort  Gansevoort  sale.  The  grant 
was  executed  by  the  Mayor.  It  will  readily  be  perceived  that  there 
was  a  sacrifice  of  this  property,  but  the  neglect  of  all  prudence  in 
the  mode  of  closing  the  transaction,  stamps  it  with  its  greatest  pecu- 
liarity. We  presume  the  late  Comptroller  and  the  Counsel  are  in 
the  main  responsible.  The  minutes  stated  that  the  grantee  was  to 
pay  for  the  bulkhead.  It  is  the  universal  custom,  in  making  grants, 
to  compel  the  grantee  to  build  and  pay  for,  not  only  the  bulkhead  in 
front  of  the  land  granted,  but  also  for  that  in  front  of  the  adjacent 
street.  The  city  in  this  case  contracted  to  pay  for  both ;  the  grant 
to  Mr.  Cox  required  him  to  pay  only  for  that  in  front  of  the  land, 
leaving  the  city  to  bear  the  residue.  But  this  is  not  the  worst  as- 
pect of  the  case.    Instead  of  requiring  pay,  as  the  resolution  direct- 


89 


ed,  an  agreement  to  pay  is  taken.  An  agreement  from  John  Cox  I 
The  City  parts  with  its  valuable  title,  and  takes  only  a  personal  ob- 
ligation for  the  cost  of  the  bulkhead,  part  of  which  it  had  already 
paid.  The  property  was  not  in  a  condition  for  sale,  but  the  term  of 
the  late  Board  was  soon  to  expire,  and  there  was  some  interest  be- 
hind the  curtain  which  required  "haste,  and  feared  to  subject  the  mat- 
ter to  the  decision  of  the  new  Sinking  Fund  Commissioners.  No 
prudent  man  would  manage  his  affairs  in  this  manner.  No  set  of 
prudent  men  would  thus  part  from  property.  No  counsel  who  valu- 
ed his  reputation  would  dare  to  draw  a  deed  so  much  at  variance 
with  what  he  knew  to  be  the  usual  condition  of  such  grants,  and  turn 
into  a  covenant,  not  binding  on  the  land  but  merely  personal,  the 
condition  prescribed  by  the  Sinking  Fund  Board.  The  Commissioner 
whom  he  nominates  to  open  streets  is  the  party  who  receives  these 
favors.  He  doubtless  acted  on  the  suggestion  of  others.  The  sales 
to  Draper,  Durfee  and  Cox,  are  nearly  simultaneous.  Cox  applied 
through  Lewis  B.  Griffin,  on  the  28th,  for  the  grant;  it  was  reported 
on  by  the  Street  Commissioner  and  Comptroller  on  the  29th ;  it  was 
consummated  on  the  30th.  The  minutes  in  each  case  bear  this  pe- 
culiarity, that  the  person  named  to  the  Sinking  Fund  Commissioners 
as  the  actual  party,  was  different  from  the  one  who  took  the  deed. 
Lewis  B.  Griffin  applied  for  a  water  grant  in  the  Cox  case,  and  the 
name  of  the  latter  does  not  appear  until  the  Board  are  about  to  pass 
on  it,  J.  W.  Schmidt,  Jr.,  applies  in  the  Durfee  case,  and  the  name 
of  Durfee  is  interlined  after  the  grant  had  been  agreed  to.  Reuben 
Lovejoy  is  the  apparent  purchaser  in  the  sale  to  Draper.  The  grant 
to  Cox  adjoins  the  grant  to  Draper.  Such  proceedings  are  unusual, 
and  lead  to  the  belief  that  sales  thus  made  simultaneously,  have 
some  connection  with  each  other.  We  desire  to  be  informed  who  is 
Mr.  Robert  A.  Durfee,  and  who  is  Mr.  John  Cox,  and  what  claim 
they  have  to  peculiar  bounties  from  the  City  ?  The  answers  may 
furnish  some  clue  to  these  extraordinary  proceedings. 

Citizens  of  New  York,  your  Common  Council,  for  the  last  year, 
produced  an  atmosphere  of  corruption  that  filled  all  the  public 
offices,  and  poisoned  the  morals  of  too  many  public  servants.  They 
remain  most  of  them  yet  in  power.  The  work  of  corruption  is  going 
on  daily,  and  breaking  down  all  the  safeguards  on  which  you  have 
relied  for  an  honest  performance  of  duty,  and  yet  you  go  on  in  the 


40 

ordinary  occupations  of  profit,  as  if  the  increasing  circle  of  corrup- 
tion -would  not  ultimately  widen  so  as  to  embrace  every  prominent 
interest,  and  every  branch  of  government,  and  produce  deep  and  in- 
curable disorders  among  them.  Your  repose  is  not  only  unjustifiable, 
it  is  criminal.  "With  well  directed  efforts,  free  from  the  spirit  of 
party,  and  entered  upon  with  a  view  to  establish  the  supremacy  of 
wisdom  and  virtue  in  public  affairs,  you  may  easily  drive  into 
merited  privacy  and  obloquy  those  who  now  govern  for  purposes  of 
plunder,  and  leave  no  interest  free  from  their  pollution.  If  you 
timidly  retire  from  the  encounter,  on  the  disgraceful  plea  that  no- 
thing can  be  done,  oppression  will  go  forward.  But  if  you  strike 
a  successful  blow  at  the  villany  we  are  enduring,  it  will  strengthen 
the  arm  of  honest  men  everywhere,  and  break  down  the  tendency 
now  so  general  towards  deep  and  universal  corruption. 


MORE  WATER  LOTS. 

Who  is  Mr.  Durfee  ? —  Who  is  Mr.  Cox  ? 
The  Sales  to  Cox  and  Durfee. — In  answer  to  our  inquiries  yes- 
terday— who  is  John  ,Cox,  and  who  Robert  A.  Durfee — the  pur- 
chasers of  Corporation  property  from  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Sinking  Fund,  at  prices  far  below  its  value, — we  have  received 
much  information,  some  of  it  in  letters,  part  of  which  we  publish 

The  first  is  as  follows : 

"  There  is  a  man  by  the  name  of  Robert  A.  Durfee,  foreman  in 
Mr.  Kingsland's  oil  works  in  Jersey  City." 

On  the  back,  is  a  note  to  us  from  one  of  our  best  citizens,  as  fol- 
lows— "  A  modest  young  friend,  who  cannot  appear,  has  sent  me 
this  note  for  you. 

"  Yours,  truly,  ." 

Another  is  as  follows  : 

"  Durfee  is  foreman  in  Kingsland's  oil  factory,  Jersey  city." 
This  is  from  a  firm  in  Pearl  street.  Another  is  as  follows,  signed 
with  a  responsible  name  : 

New  York,  25th  January,  1853. 
"Messrs.  Editors:— As  you  wish  to  be  informed  who  Mr.  Robert 
A.  Durfee  is,  of  whom  mention  is  made  in  your  paper  this  morning, 


41 


he  is  foreman  in  D.  At  A.  Kingsland  &  Co.'s  oil  factory,  in  Jersey 
City,  K  J. 

"  Yours,  respectfully,  " 

The  following  is  from  one  who  signs  himself — A.  Tax  Payer: 
"  Messrs.  Editors  : — The  Robert  A.  Durfee  mentioned  by  you  this 
morning,  in  connection  with  the  sale  of  property  on  the  North  River, 
is  now,  and  has  been  for  many  years,  foreman  for  D.  &  A.  Kingsland 
&  Co.,  at  their  factory  at  Jersey  City.  *  *  *  *  Many,  many 
thanks  to  you  for  your  services  in  bringing  to  light  the  iniquities  that 
have  been  practised  upon  the  people  by  the  Common  Council.  Go 
on,  for  the  sake  of  virtue,  and  let  us  know  whom  we  can  trust.  It 
cannot  be  that  all  our  public  men  are  guilty  alike." 

The  information  we  have  received  as  to  John  Cox,  is  not  suffi- 
ciently definite  to  justify  its  use  in  so  grave  an  investigation. 
Enough  is  presented  to  require  from  Mr.  Kingsland  a  full  explana- 
tion of  these  extraordinary  sales,  in  which  he  took  part  as  Commis- 
sioner of  the  Sinking  Fund.  As  Mayor  of  the  City,  he  executed  the 
grants.* 

Pursuing  our  investigations  yesterday,  into  the  sale  to  Cox,  we 
learnt  some  further  particulars.  Mr.  Lewis  B.  Griffin  was  the  owner 
of  the  upland  adjoining  this  grant.  It  was  claimed  on  the  part  of 
the  city  that  he  had  forfeited  his  pre-emption  right  to  a  grant  in 
front ;  and  such  grant  was  therefore  (as  we  are  informed  by  a  clerk 
in  the  Street  Commissioner's  office)  expressly  refused.  Upon  this 
ground,  the  Street  Commissioner,  in  May  last,  entered  into  an  agree- 
ment to  build  a  bulk -head  on  the  new  exterior  line  (13th  avenue)  in 
front  of  this  property.  There  was  no  other  justification  for  its  con- 
struction by  the  city,  except  that  the  pre-emptive  right  of  the  up- 
land owner  had  been  forfeited.  The  difference  between  the  two  po- 
sitions was  this :  If  the  pre-emptive  right  had  been  forfeited,  the 
city  could  gain  the  land  from  the  river  and  sell  it  to  strangers.  If 
not  forfeited,  then,  in  case  a  grant  were  issued,  it  could  only  be  is- 
sued to  the  upland  owner.  In  either  case,  the  city  was  authorized 
to  fix  its  own  price  and  terms ;  but  a  grant  to  the  owner  of  the  up- 
land of  the  mere  water-right,  is  generally  at  a  lower  price  than  when 
the  City  holds  both  the  water  right  and  the  adjacent  land.  In  this 
case,  the  City  had  assumed  its  position  as  owner,  by  reason  of  such 


*  No  proper  explanation  has  been  made. 


42 


forfeiture,  and  taken  the  proper  steps  to  gain  the  land  from  the  river 
as  the  property  solely  of  the  City,  and  had  paid  over  seven  thou- 
sand dollars  on  an  agreement  to  pay  $9,497  04-100  in  this  object. 
It  was  for  the  exterior  bulk-head.  Such  was  the  position  of  the 
City.  Rights  had  been  acquired  that  should  have  been  securely 
guarded.  The  lots  filled  up  and  in  order  for  sale  will  produce,  in 
the  aggregate,  with  the  right  of  wharfage,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
fifty  thousand  dollars.  Now,  how  is  it  disposed  of?  On  the  28th  of 
December,  an  application  was  made  in  two  or  three  lines,  by  Lewis  B. 
Griffin,  for  a  water  grant  in  front  of  his  property.  The  body  of  it  is 
in  the  handwriting  of  the  late  Comptroller,  and  was  presented  to  the 
Sinking  Fund  Commissioners,  and  referred  to  the  Comptroller  and 
Street  Commissioner.  On  the  back  are  the  figures  $50 — meaning  that 
a  verbal  report  had  been  made,  that  a  grant  should  be  executed  at 
that  rate  per  foot.  On  the  next  day  (the  29th)  the  Board  confirms 
the  report,  and  orders  the  grant  to  John  Cox  per  order  of  Griffin. 
The  order  requests  that  the  grant  to  him  be  made  to  Cox,  and  the 
body  of  this  is  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Comptroller's  Clerk.  There 
was  a  disregard  of  all  business  habits  in  this  mode  of  proceeding, 
and  of  all  prudence.  The  reference  to  the  Comptroller  and  Street 
Commissioner,  was  a  compliance  with  a  statute  which  contemplated 
deliberate  action,  and  a  proper  report.  If  Griffin  had  a  pre-emptive 
right,  there  was  no  power  thus  to  dispose  of  it.  He  could  assign  it 
only  Avith  due  formalities.  But  the  transaction  as  completed  by  the 
Counsel,  Comptroller,  and  Mayor,  shows  that  they  regarded  the  title 
as  in  the  City  perfectly,  and  an  absolute  deed  to  Cox  was  made  ir- 
respective of  the  upland. 

We  have  no  time  nor  disposition  to  repeat  the  enormities  of  the 
sale,  as  developed  yesterday,  and  the  omission  of  all  care  and  pru- 
dence in  carrying  it  into  effect.  But  we  call  upon  you,  fellow-citi- 
zens, to  require  from  your  public  servants,  that  they  take  quickly 
the  steps  necessary  for  the  recovery  of  this  property.  It  can  only 
be  recovered,  after  the  passage  of  a  resolution  to  authorize  it  by  the 
Common  Council.  If  the  sale  is  allowed  to  stand,  the  security  thns 
afforded  to  such  outrages  will  insure  their  repetition.  If  it  shall  be 
ripped  up,  the  warning  will  deter  others  from  repeating  the  iniquity. 
How  shall  the  resolution  to  authorize  proper  proceedings,  in  this 


43 


and  other  cases,  be  passed  ?  You  must  expel  from  power  the  Al- 
dermen who  now  disgrace  the  Common  Council.  Assemble  together 
in  your  might,  and  with  one  voice  demand  from  the  Legislature,  and 
the  public,  that  an  opportunity  be  instantly  given  to  prove  that 
New  York  reprobates,  and  will  punish,  the  low  vices  which  now 
stain  the  bright  metal  of  her  honor. 


ATTEMPT  OF  SUPERVISORS  TO  SHAKE  THE  JUDICIARY. 

The  independence  of  the  Judiciary  has  been  seemed  in  various  Con. 
stitutions,  by  provisions  that  prevent  a  capricious  removal  of  Judges 
or  a  change  in  their  compensation  during  the  existence  of  their  term 
of  office.  It  was  justly  supposed  by  the  framers  of  such  instruments, 
that  if  the  salary  of  a  Judge  could  be  increased  during  his  term,  the 
power  might  be  used  to  affect  his  decisions.  Men  without  a  high  or- 
ganization and  refined  culture,  have  proved  too  generally,  that  where 
the  treasure  is,  there  the  heart  is  also.  Considerations  of  this  char- 
acter induced  the  Convention  of  1846  to  adopt  this  clause: 

"  Section  7.  The  Judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  and  Justices  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  shall  severally  receive,  at  stated  times,  for  their 
services,  a  compensation  to  be  established  by  law,  which  shall  not  be 
increased  or  diminished  during  their  continuance  in  office." 

In  pursuance  of  this  provision,  the  salary  of  the  Judges  of  the 
Supreme  Court  was  fixed  by  law. 

In  the  month  of  June  last,  application  was  made  to  the  Board  of 
Supervisors  to  increase  the  compensation  of  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  a  report  and  resolutions  were  introduced  in  conformity 
with  the  application.  There  were  various  matters  pending  in  Court 
in  which  the  Corporation  was  interested,  under  the  management  of 
the  late  Counsel,  such  as  the  appointment  of  Commissioners  to  open 
streets,  the  confirmation  of  the  proceedings,  and  the  taxation  of  costs 
of  Counsel  and  Commissioners  ;  and  the  resolution,  which  provided 
for  an  increase  of  salary  from  the  first  of  July  last,  was  laid  on  the 
table.  In  the  mean  time,  various  grants  were  made  of  valuable  fran- 
chises and  property  of  the  city  to  persons  standing  in  a  peculiar  re- 
lation to  members  of  the  Common  Council,  the  legality  of  which  was 
questioned,  and  on  the  27th  of  December  last,  the  very  time  when 
some  of  these  illegal  grants  were  being  consummated,  the  authors  of 
them  passed  the  following  resolution  : 


44 


"  Resolved,  That  in  pursuance  of  the  authority  vested  in  the  Board 
of  Supervisors,  there  shall  be  allowed  to  each  of  the  Justices  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  this  State,  in  the  First  Judicial  District,  a 
compensation  for  their  services,  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars a  year,  which  shall  be  paid  to  them  quarterly,  out  of  the  county 
treasury,  in  each  year,  after  the  first  day  of  July,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty- two. 

:<  Resolved,  That  there  shall  be  allowed  to  each  of  the  Justices  of 
the  said  Supreme  Court,  in  other  districts,  the  sum  of  eight  dollars  a 
day,  for  the  expenses  of  such  Justices,  during  each  day  that  they 
shall  hold  any  court  in  the  city  and  county  of  New  York;  and  the 
sum  of  eight  dollars  for  each  one  hundred  miles  which  the  said  Jus- 
tices shall  necessarily  travel,  in  coming  to  the  said  city  and  county, 
from  their  places  of  residence,  to  hold  every  such  court,  and  in  re- 
turning thereto,  and  that  the  said  several  sums  shall  be  paid  out  of 
the  county  treasury." 

The  above  compensation  is  in  addition  to  their  ordinary  salary. 
It  is  of  course  competent  for  the  Board  of  Supervisors  to  repeal  these 
resolutions  at  any  moment.  The  complexion  of  the  Board  is  in  no 
respect  changed,  except  in  the  office  of  the  Mayor,  who  presides.  The 
members,  doubtless,  have  expected  that  their  sense  of  justice,  in  pro- 
viding adequate  compensation — it  is  not  more  than  adequate — will 
be  duly  considered  by  the  bench,  in  the  adjudication  of  those  impor- 
tant questions  now  before  them,  relating  to  the  powers  of  the  Com- 
mon Council.  The  very  evil  contemplated  by  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution,  has  thus  arisen,  and  the  power  of  the  bench  to  overcome 
a  great  temptation  is  now  to  be  shown. 

The  independence  of  the  Judiciary  is  one  of  the  greatest  safe- 
guards of  the  community.  Without  it,  no  people  can  long  maintain 
their  liberties  and  their  happiness.  The  weak  rely  on  it  for  protec- 
tion against  the  strong.  Laws  are  enacted  for  this  purpose.  But  of 
what  avail  is  the  passage  of  good  laws,  if  they  are  not  administered 
wisely,  honestly,  and  firmly?  If  the  Judiciary  is  made  dependent 
their  dependence  will  rest,  not  on  the  weak,  for  these  are  inefficient, 
but  on  the  strong,  for  they  can  render  service.  Courts  of  justice, 
which  are  the  refuge  and  protection  of  the  weak  when  the  Judiciary 
is  elevated  and  independent,  are,  when  otherwise  composed,  convert- 
ed into  instruments  of  wrong  and  oppression.  Is  there  not  immi- 
nent danger  that  the  Judiciary  of  this  State  may  be  shaken  in  the 
firm  administration  of  justice,  by  subjecting  their  compensation  to 
the  caprice  of  those  who  are  suitors  before  them,  urging  a  decision 


45 


on  questions  involving  not  only  their  immediate  pecuniary  interests, 
but  also  their  personal  liberty  ?  The  man  who  does  not  tremble  at 
this  state  of  things,  knows  little  of  human  nature,  and  is  blind  to  a  1 
the  warnings  of  experience.  If  the  great  safeguard  of  an  hones 
and  unyielding  bench,  thrown  around  the  rights  of  the  citizen,  is 
swept  away,  a  dark  night  will  come  over  the  fortunes  of  the  coun- 
try. Protection  will  then  be  afforded  to  criminals,  who,  by  violence, 
interfere  with  the  exercise  of  political  rights,  on  the  part  of  those 
who  are  inimical  to  the  bench,  and  the  frauds  and  injustice  of  those 
who  fix  the  compensation  of  judges  be  upheld.  We  do  not  belong 
to  the  class  who  would  make  the  compensation  of  those  who  occupy 
the  bench,  too  light  to  command  the  highest  talent  and  the  best 
character.  We  believe  that  salaries  are  generally  much  too  small 
for  high  judicial  stations.  The  compensation  now  fixed  by  the  Board 
of  Supervisors,  should,  by  a  law  of  the  State,  so  far  as  this  is  pos- 
sible, be  made  permanent,  and  incapable  of  being  affected  by  those 
who  establish  it,  having  possibly  in  view  the  villanies  that  were 
being  perpetrated  and  their  ultimate  maintenance  by  judicial  deci- 
sions. We  make  the  distinction  between  the  necessity  for  adequate 
payment  and  the  time  and  manner  of  payment  now  adopted,  and  its 
peculiar  attending  circumstances.  The  calendars  were  full,  and  will 
be  to  overflowing.  The  Governor  had  called  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject, and  recommended  that  the  labors  of  the  bench  be  devolved 
partly  on  others.  An  Act  was  passed  in  1852  authorizing  the  Board 
of  Supervisors  to  raise  the  salaries  and  pay  certain  traveling  ex- 
penses of  Judges  from  other  quarters  of  the  State.  The  proceeding 
of  the  Board  appeared  to  have  the  warrant  of  law,  but  it  must  be 
clear  that  the  injunction  of  the  Constitution  that  the  compensation 
of  Judges  "  shall  not  be  increased  or  diminished  during  their  conti- 
nuance in  office,"  applies  not  only  to  the  Legislature,  but  also  to 
every  subordinate  instrument  established  to  carry  into  effect  the  po- 
litical power.  The  Comptroller  of  the  city  ought,  we  respectfully 
submit,  to  obey  the  mandate  of  the  Constitution,  which  he  has  sworn 
to  support,  and  refuse  the  payment ;  but  means  should  be  taken  by 
good  citizens  to  place  the  whole  subject  on  a  proper  footing. 

It  is  to  gratify  no  idle  curiosity  that  we  place  before  you  so  often 
and  earnestly,  fellow  citizens,  these  startling  disclosures.  Means  are 
being  taken  by  men  in  power  to  accomplish  personal  designs  widely 


46 


at  variance  with  the  permanent  interests  of  the  country,  and  they 
are  prosecuted  with  a  boldness  and  perseverance  that  show  wide 
and  deep  corruption  as  being  the  condition  already  reached  in  too 
many  quarters.  The  tendency  must  not  only  be  met  and  opposed, 
but  wholly  overcome,  and  its  authors  held  up  to  just  detestation  and 
punishment.  The  efforts  of  the  press,  powerful  though  they  be, 
when  prosecuted  with  fearlessness,  are  yet  as  nothing,  except  they 
arouse  the  community  into  decisive  warfare  against  gross  abuses. 
Too  many  stand  aloof  from  the  contest.  The  indifference  of  those 
who  have  already  earned  a  competence,  and  who  live  to  enjoy  only 
pleasure,  is  the  reliance  and  prop  of  the  corrupt,  and  the  drag 
which  the  enemies  of  corruption  most  feel.  It  is  a  criminal  indiffer- 
ence which  should  awake  the  censures  of  the  community.  A  free 
government  imposes  on  all  the  necessity  of  attending  to  its  preser- 
vation :  and  the  time  has  now  come  when  we  must  take  efficient  steps 
to  preserve  and  protect  our  rights,  liberties  and  property,  or  these 
high  interests  will  be  successfully  invaded.  Reader,  how  will  you 
act  ?  If  you  shall  determine  to  obtain  reform,  act  quickly,  act  tho- 
roughly. Be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  an  organic  change,  one 
that  will  at  the  ensuing  Spring,  through  the  aid  of  the  Legislature, 
enable  you  to  drive  from  power  the  men  who  hold  it,  to  pollute 
even  the  pure  ermine  of  justice  with  the  filth  of  their  Augean 
stable. 


THE  LATE  ABUSES  AND  THE  REMEDY. 

We  take  the  first  opportunity  to  pause  over  the  work  already 
accomplished,  and  endeavor  to  turn  it  to  useful  account.  Those  who 
have  watched  the  progress  of  development  for  a  few  weeks  past, 
have  perceived  that  the  frauds  of  the  Common  Council  were  exhib- 
ited in  two  forms.  1st,  In  selling  to  others  their  votes  and  influence, 
whereby  valuable  franchises  and  property  have  been  parted  from 
without  compensation  to  the  city ;  and  2nd,  In  grants  directly  to 
themselves,  a  third  party  being  used  as  a  matter  of  ceremony,  with 
a  right  to  a  share  of  profits.  There  are  other  iniquities  of  different 
kinds,  with  the  character  of  which  you  are  familiar.  You  were  in- 
formed a  few  days  ago  of  the  pertinacity  of  the  Common  Council  in 


47 


endeavoring  to  force  the  Commissioners  of  the  Sinking  Fund  to  sell 
the  Fort  Ganzevoort  property  to  one  D.  R.  Martin.  Alderman  Sturte- 
vant  has  his  office  in  the  building  in  which  D.  R.  Martin  is  located 
Mr.  Martin  is  also  lessee  of  the  following  piers  from  the  Corpo- 


ration : 

South  half  of  Pier  23,  at  rent  of  $1,265 

Pier  No.  22,                   do   1,316 

North  half  of  Pier  20  and  bulkhead,  at   1,366 

South  half  of  pier  14,  at  rent  of   2,006 

Pier  39,  Vestry  street,     do   1,380 

Pier  35,  Franklin  street,   do   2,356 

Pier  at  Laight  street,        do   507 


The  piers  owned  by  the  city  were  valued  by  the  late  Comptroller 
at  $3,258,000.  The  net  income  from  them,  after  deducting  cost  of 
repairs  and  salaries,  is  only  $12,485  52-100 — six  per  cent,  and  a 
fraction  on  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  !  We  have  the  most  reli- 
able information,  that  a  single  pier  let  by  the  Corporation  at  $1,200 
per  annum,  is  underlet  (one-sixth  of  it)  at  $1,000  per  annum.  How 
fortunate  Mr.  Martin  must  be  if  he  is  the  real  owner  of  these  leases 
Under  the  Sinking  Fund  Act,  the  piers  and  their  avails  were  pledged 
to  the  debt :  but  all  care  of  them  seems  to  have  been  utterly  aban- 
doned, and  the  power  has  been  absorbed  into  the  Common  Coun- 
cil, through  the  Committee  on  Finance.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed 
when  law  is  openly  and  disgracefully  violated,  and  a  vast  property, 
utterly  sacrificed  by  public  officers,  that  they  take  upon  themselves 
merely  the  odium  of  the  transaction,  and  leave  its  benefits  to  others. 
Happening  to  be  at  the  City  Hall  on  Friday,  we  looked  for  the  first 
time  into  the  names  of  the  grantees  of  the  Broadway  Railroad,  and 
there  saw  as  one  of  them  the  name  of  this  D.  R.  Martin.  Why  is  he 
the  recipient  of  these  vast  privileges  ?  What  entitles  him  thus 
to  "  roll  and  tumble  in  the  ocean"  of  Corporation  bounty  ?  Look 
over  the  list  of  other  names  in  the  Broadway  grant,  and  you  will  see 
in  the  close  relationship  of  blood  and  pecuniary  interests  between 
Aldermen  and  grantees,  the  answer  to  the  question.  The  same  influ- 
ence that  prompted  the  passage  of  the  resolution  referred  to,  induced 
the  leases  and  the  railway  grant.  We  present  this  matter  now,  and  re. 
fer  to  a  single  instance,  only  by  way  of  illustration ;  but  if  the  promised 
affidavit  of  Mr.  Jacob  Sharpe,  (who,  in  addition  to  being  one  of  the 
railway  grantees,  built  last  year  the  bulkhead  at  Fort  Ganzevoort  for 


48 


about  $90,000,  the  pier  at  Manhattanville  for  an  enormous  sum,  and 
is  the  recent  grantee  of  the  Wall  street  ferry  and  wharves,  among 
numerous  other  favors,)  if  his  promised  affidavit  shall  be  true,  that 
nothing  was  paid,  the  question  will  ariue,  whether  it  was  necessary 
for  Mr.  Martin  to  pay  Mr.  Sturtevant,  or  for  other  relations  or  friends 
to  pay  other  Aldermen  for  such  a  grant  In  such  a  matter  he  and 
his  colleagues  could  afford  to  be  magnanimous.  We  must  leave 
much  in  what  we  write  on  these  subjects  to  be  appreciated  from  the 
facts,  without  the  aid  of  deduction  from  us ;  for  a  thousand  enemies 
have  started  up  from  the  strongholds  of  corruption,  to  render 
investigation  and  criticism  difficult;  and  we  desire,  by  the  use  of 
all  the  moderation  compatible  with  a  disagreeable  duty,  to  show 
that  a  feeling  animates  us  which  no  citizen  should  censure.  The 
city  is  fast  rushing  on  to  the  brink  of  destruction :  and  unless  our 
steps  are  arrested,  all .  will  be  involved  in  the  same  disasters — the 
criminal  who  is  the  active  agent  in  this  state  of  things,  the  rich  who 
by  silence  and  inaction  connive  at  it,  and  the  humble  citizen  who 
raises  his  voice  of  remonstrance,  but  who  is  crushed  between  the  two 
influences.  An  effort  now  made  with  singleness  of  purpose,  with 
wisdom  and  with  courage,  will  check,  if  it  will  not  correct  the  disor- 
ders of  the  times.  We  think  we  perceive,  that  that  wealth  which 
has  been  increased  through  means  of  corruption,  would  now  be  pour- 
ed out  like  water,  if  it  could  wash  away  the  ineffaceable  stains  which 
attend  its  possession.  A  feeling  and  sentiment  have  been  aroused,  of 
a  character  so  deep  and  so  widely  spread,  that  if  we  but  use  them  as 
the  occasion  prompts,  fraud  will  be  detested  and  reform  accomplish- 
ed. The  danger  which  lies  before  us  arises  from  the  anxiety  of  some 
to  aim  the  action  of  the  public  towards  those  particular  abuses  from 
which  they  derive  injury — the  Broadway  railroad  case,  for  instance 
— and  of  others  to  make  the  reforms  only  of  a  partial  character.  The 
great  feeling  now  aroused  must  not  be  wasted  on  what  is  partial  or 
temporary,  but  concentrated  into  one  purpose,  and  directed  towards 
it  with  energy,  courage  and  confidence.  To  procure  wide  and 
effectual  reform  is  an  object  worthy  of  high  effort,  and  must  in  the 
end  triumph  over  every  obstacle.  Present  defeat  before  the  Legis- 
lature or  the  public,  is  not  to  be  compared  to  the  disaster  which  at- 
tends success  with  partial,  temporary  and  ineffectual  measures. 
Such  measures  wiU  be  prosecuted  on  the  admission,  direct  or  impli- 


49 


ed,  that  ell'ectual  remedies  are  hopeless,  and  that  we  must  ultimate- 
ly sink  down  into  irremediable  confusion  and  disgrace.  The  time 
has  arrived  to  exhibit  the  true  character  and  the  powerful  energies 
of  a  free  people,  their  abhorrence  of  fraud  and  wrong,  their  deter 
initiation  that  the  virtue  of  the  community  shall  control  its  vice, 
their  capacity  to  govern  wisely  and  firmly.  The  opportunity  must 
not  be  lost.  In  the  contest  the  tone  of  the  public  will  be  raised, 
and  virtue  become  invincible.  Let  us  examine  some  of  the  defects 
in  our  system  to  which  we  owe  the  evils  that  prevail.  If  the  worst 
i  lemagogue  in  the  city  had  been  the  democratic  candidate  for  the 
Uomptrollership,  the  popularity  of  General  Pierce  would  have  elect- 
ed him.  It  will  be  very  obvious  that  it  is  impolitic  to  subject  the 
city  to  that  hazard.  Many  officers  were  carried  in,  wholly  through 
that  influence — some  for  three  years,  others  for  only  one.  If  we 
are  not  greatly  mistaken,  there  will  be  abundant  cause  to  regret  the 
success  of  some  who  were  thus  elected.  This  difficulty  will  be  cor- 
rected by  separating  our  municipal  from  our  general  elections,  and 
by  changing  the  former  from  the  Fall  to  the  Spring.  It  may  be  ob- 
jected, that  this  was  tried  for  a  short  time,  and  abandoned.  The 
reasons  for  the  abandonment  we  well  know ;  they  were  more  con- 
nected with  the  fortunes  of  party,  than  with  the  prosperity  and  good 
government  of  the  city.  No  argument  can  be  presented  by  even 
the  most  ingenious  mind,  in  favor  of  mixing  up  the  two  election? 
together,  that  cannot  be  overwhelmingly  answered.  We  take  it  for 
granted  that  this  change  will  be  insisted  on,  and  that  all  measures 
that  do  not  embrace  it  will  be  promptly  rejected.  The  change 
draws  after  it  necessarily  a  change  of  the  present  incumbents  of  of- 
fice. Their  term  must  either  be  shortened,  so  as  to  terminate  this 
Spring,  or  be  lengthened  so  as  to  run  over  to  the  next.  We  now- 
elect  in  November  those  who  take  offiee  in  January,  we  should 
elect  in  April  those  who  take  office  in  May.  It  would  create  a  feel- 
ing of  horror  to  propose  to  add  four  months  to  the  term  of  the  pre- 
sent Common  Council — a  body  which  has  made  New  York  corrup- 
tion a  by-word  over  the  whole  continent.  Therefore  it  should  be 
shortened,  so  that  the  political  life  of  those  who  have  been  tried  and 
found  wanting,  who  have  brought  disgrace  on  their  home,  their 
children,  their  friends,  shall  be  forever  terminated.  It  is  the  ne- 
cessary result  of  a  necessary  change.    It  will  be  a  blow  struck  at 

3 


50 


corruption  everywhere.  It  will  strengthen  the  arm  of  honest  men  in 
similar  contests,  in  other  cities  and  other  States.  The  vote  on  the 
question,  whether  or  not  their  term  shall  be  lengthened  or  shortened, 
if  submitted  to  the  people,  as  we  hope  it  may  be,  will  give  a  spirit  to 
the  contest  that  will  prove  that  a  great  community  has  firmly  put  its 
foot  on  the  neck  of  corruption.  The  Legislature  have  therefore  only 
to  be  asked  to  allow  the  people  who  know  these  men,  and  who  will 
give  them  a  fair  trial,  to  decide  on  the  character  of  their  deeds 
The  power  to  change  the  form  of  government,  or  even  to  abolish  it, 
is  inherent  in  every  people.  This  is  at  the  bottom  of  American  con- 
stitutions. Great  movements  of  that  character  should  not  be  entered 
upon  without  grave  deliberation.  The  proceeding  now  necessary  it 
different  from  that,  and  wholly  inferior  and  subordinate.  It  is  a  ne- 
cessary change  in  the  time  of  election,  which  draws  after  it  the  ques- 
tion whether  a  representative  without  any  vested  right,  shall  repre- 
sent his  principal  four  months  more  than  a  prescribed  term,  or  eight 
months  less.  The  man  who  imagines  that  any  constitutional  right, 
safeguard,  interest  or  policy,  is  interfered  with  in  such  an  act,  mis- 
understands the  character  of  our  institutions,  and  of  those,  also, 
whose  spirit  and  tone  are  so  largely  infused  into  them.  There  has 
ever  been  a  hesitation  about  interfering  with  the  term  of  regular  ju- 
dicial incumbents,  but  none  whatever  in  any  quarter  against  a  change 
which  affects  only  the  mere  representative.  An  extraordinary  emer- 
gency has  arisen,  and  there  is  a  necessity  for  its  exercise.  The 
danger  which  the  enemies  of  reform  advance,  that  it  may  be  ap- 
plied at  other  times,  and  under  circumstances  that  do  not  justify 
a  change,  is  met  by  the  consideration  that  the  people  are  to  vote 
upon  it,  and  they  would  rebuke  an  attempt  to  displace  honest 
officers.  Such  a9  are  dishonest,  and  who  impress  the  whole  body 
with  their  infirmities^  can  never  be  removed  with  disadvantage, 
whether  the  act  be  vieAved  by  itself  or  as  a  precedent.  The  prece- 
dent will  tend  to  purify  the  administration  of  public  affairs.  The 
Legislature,  when  asked  to  submit  to  the  people  of  New  York,  the 
question, — "  Shall  the  term  of  the  present  Board  be  lengthened  or 
shortened  ?  "  decide  nothing  against  the  present  incumbents.  They 
allow  us  to  decide  for  or  against  them. 

Another  defect  is  equally  obvious.  No  legislative  establishment 
anywhere  but  here,  has  two  bodies  with  the  same  constituency.  A 


51 


member  of  the  lower  House  of  Assembly  represents  one  part  of  the 
State, — and  of  the  upper,  another.    In  our  city  wo  send  from  the 
same  ward  a  member  to  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  another  to  the 
Board  of  Assistants,  and,  substantially,  a  third  to  the  Legislature. 
They  are  elected  at  the  same  time,  and  like  influences  prevail  to 
stamp  them  with  the  same  character.    Hence  one  Board  is  not  a 
check  upon  the  other,  and  the  tax  bills  of  the  city  pass  the  Legisla- 
ture as  they  are  prepared  by  the  Common  Council.    The  anomaly  of 
this  condition  should  be  changed.    The  change  which  we  would  pro- 
mote, squares  with  every  valuable  popular  principle.    When  the 
members  of  the  Legislature  were  elected  by  general  ticket,  they  were 
far  better  than  now.    The  reputation  of  nominating  bodies  was 
pledged  for  the  excellence  of  the  nomination.    The  Board  of  Alder- 
men should  be  nominated  and  elected  on  this  plan.    As  they  have 
much  work  to  do,  the  number  cannot  be  made  small.    If  the  Board 
consists  of  twenty,  elected  by  general  ticket,  five  of  whom  shall  go 
out  yearly,  the  attention  of  men  of  substance  will  be  turned  intently 
to  its  construction.    There  will  then  be  one  Board  which  will  owe 
its  powers  and  feel  its  responsibility  to  the  whole  public.    As  a  com- 
pensation for  the  separation  of  members  of  this  Board  from  direct 
accountability  to  particular  wards  or  districts,  the  Board  of  Assistants 
could  be  made  more  popular.    Send  a  member  to  it  from  every  two 
election  districts.    The  city  is  divided  into  about  90  districts,  which 
would  give  45  members.    They  would  be  brought  into  clo^e  contact 
with  the  people.    The  wants  of  the  latter  could  easily  be  made 
known.    A  sufficient  number  of  strong  and  honest  men  would  reach 
this  Board  to  overcome  every  tendency  towards  corruption.    Its  size 
will  render  corruption  difficult ;  but  imagine  the  effect  with  which  a 
strong  mind,  desirous  to  do  battle  for  the  right,  might  there  denounce 
iniquity,  and  drive  it  into  its  dark  recesses.    With  a  legislative  es- 
tablishment   thus    constituted,  meeting,    not    in  the    night  as 
now,  but  in  the  open  day,  proper  means  would  be  provided  for 
the  passage  of  all  good  laws,  and  to  obstruct  bad  ones.    The  popular 
and  the  conservative  principle  are  both  represented,  and  furnish  not 
only  the  opportunities  to  forward,  but  also  the  means  properly  to 
guard  the  steps  of  progress.    If,  in  addition  to  this,  you  constitute 
the  Board  of  Supervisors  an  independent  body,  and  turn  them  into 
auditing  officers,  or  create  a  Board  of  Finance  of  that  character,  the 


52 


anomalies  of  our  condition  will  be  changed,  and  proper  legislative  and 
supervisory  boards  be  established.  There  is  much  more  to  be  done, 
but  it  takes  more  the  shape  of  detail  than  do  the  subjects  discussed. 
There  will  be  a  strong  effort  to  confine  the  action  of  the  public  in 
this  great  juncture,  to  such  measures  as  proceed  on  the  idea  that 
mis-government  must  exist,  and  that  only  measures  which  chain  up 
representatives  to  the  limit  of  a  particular  circuit,  and  appoint  a 
keeper  to  feed  and  watch  them,  can  be  relied  upon. 

It  will  be  said  that  the  creation  of  a  Board  of  Finance,  to  hold 
power  over  the  representative  bodies,  will  be  effectual;  indeed,  it 
will  be  claimed  to  be  more  organic  and  more  thorough  than  the  mea- 
sures we  have  proposed.  Whilst  the  plan  might  be  accepted,  in 
connection  with  others,  which  establish  reform  in  the  sentiments  of 
the  people,  as  a  necessity  which  they  may  and  must  accomplish,  we 
have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  that  its  adoption  alone,  would  be  a 
waste  of  the  immense  feeling  now  aroused,  and  which  is  capable 
of  extension  to  every  heart  that  feels  a  stake  in  the  great  principles 
that  lie  at  the  foundation  of  our  free  system,  and  an  abhorence  01 
fraud  and  wrong.  The  people,  if  they  are  not  already,  must  be  excited 
to  the  requisite  point  of  elevation.  They  must  not  be  lowered  from  it  to 
accept  only  a  partial,  ineffectual  remedy,  by  which  we  are  to  be  sunk 
down  to  the  level  of  those  who  act  on  the  policy  that  only  knaves 
and  fools  will  be  elected,  and  that  all  thorough  remedies  will  be  hope- 
loss.  We  are  not  constructed,  said  a  great  orator,  to  conquer  by 
endurance  ;  we  are  not  encrusted  with  a  shell ;  it  is  by  active,  vig- 
orous, manly  steps  that  we  reach  our  true  position. 
It  may  be  objected  against  this  plan  of  reform,  that  it  interferes  with 
a  Board  newly  elected  (the  Board  of  Assistants,)  and  which  is  not  re- 
sponsible for  the  iniquities  that  have  been  disclosed.  Although  there 
was  a  new  election  last  fall,  yet  there  were  few  changes.  A  large 
majority  of  the  old  members  was  returned.  If  the  next  election  la 
not  changed  from  the  fall  to  the  spring  (the  ensuing  spring)  a  like 
result  will  take  place.  The  members  use  the  funds  of  the  city  to 
pay  their  retainers  and  bullies,  and  in  the  confusion  of  an  election 
which  embraces  many  interests,  they  will  certainly  prevail.  The 
power  resulting  from  the  lavish  use  of  the  money  collected  from  taxa- 
tion, to  perpetuate  the  villany  of  members,  is  superior  to  the  strength 
of  party  discipline,  and  the  latter  is  overborn.    Hence  the  promi- 


53 


nence,  which  you  behold,  of  city  Aldermen  in  all  political  assemblages. 
The  funds  they  apply  enable  them  to  dictate  in  most  of  the  pro- 
ceedings. As  political  conventions  are  now  organized  here,  those,  as 
a  general  rule,  who  are  aspirants  for  office  and  political  honors,  com- 
pletely govern.  It  is  they  who  pay  the  expenses  of  the  election.  Their 
contributions  in  this  behalf  comprise  also  the  purchase  money  requir- 
ed for  a  nomination.  So  long  as  these  bodies  arc  composed  of  needy 
members,  who  reach  the  place,  as  most  of  them  do,  for  the  rewards 
that  attend  it,  such  will  ever  be  their  character.  In  this  respectthero 
is  no  difference  between  "  the  two  great  parties."  Cannot  any  man 
of  judgment  and  resolution  plainly  see,  that  any  such  miserable  or- 
ganization can  easily  be  overthrown !  It  has  no  single  element  of 
real  strength.  It  stands  on  the  tottering  basis  of  corruption.  A  thou- 
sand substantial  men  who  will  form  an  organization  on  an  independ- 
ent basis,  and  subscribe  enough  to  paralyze  dictation  from  those  who 
desire  office,  will  mow  down  the  miserable  devils  who  contif>l  iu 
politics,  and  control  on  a  plan  that  disgraces  the  land  in  which  they 
live.  We  have  measured  fully  those  who  now  rule,  and  speak  witli 
confidence  in  saying,  that  less  forcible,  or  less  respectable  bodies  could 
not  well  be  assembled  together.  Arise,  then,  citizens  of  New  York, 
with  confidence,  courage  and  strength,  and  wrest  your  city  from  such 
hands.  Establish  in  the  place  of  misrule  and" corruption,  a  solid  gov 
ernment,  one  which  the  vicious  shall  feel,  and  the  good  revere.  A 
few  party  men  of  weight  may  oppose  your  movements,  but  their  er- 
ror will  be  seen.  A  few  old  "Whigs  suppose  they  will  get  possession 
of  the  city  in  the  fall,  from  the  unpopularity  of  their  opponents  now 
in  office.  Some  old  Democrats  oppose  any  disturbing  element  in  the 
elections.  They  forget  that  men  of  both  parties  in  the  present  Com- 
mon Council,  have  rejected  party,  and  stand  together  on  one  broad 
platform — the  platform  where  lie  scattered  the  contents  of  the  public 
treasury,  the  franchises  of  the  city,  its  grants  for  ferries,  land  and 
property — and  that  they  stand  upon  it  filling  their  pockets  with  the 
vast  plunder,  with  which  they  corrupt  Conventions  ami  the  Grand  Ju- 
ry, control  the  primary  meetings  and  hire  bullies  whom  they  discharge 
from  imprisonment  or,  as  Judges,  so  gently  punish,  that  the  criminal 
is  encouraged  to  repeat  his  dangerous  offences  against  the  sanctity  of 
the  ballot.  A  party  man  of  either  side  must  see  in  this  state  of 
things,  what  is  fatal  to  the  supremacy  of  the  party.  He  must  dis- 
cover a  far  deeper  danger. 


54 


The  union  of  Whigs  and  Democrats  in  the  Common  Council  on  the 
basis  of  plunder,  suggests  a  union  of  honest  men  on  the  opposing  basis. 
A  distinct  issue  of  that  character  can  be  formed.  The  plunderers 
will  fall  and  be  disgraced  forever. 

To  those,  therefore,  who  assemble  in  the  work  of  reform,  we  say,  * 
be  satisfied  with  no  half-way  measures.  Accept  only  those  which  are 
complete.  The  Legislature  of  the  State  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  The  executive  offices  are  held  by  them.  The  two  will 
be  responsible  for  what  they  grant  to  you,  and  for  what  they  refuse. 
Hold  them  to  the  responsibility.  Place  your  grievances  before  them 
in  a  manly  spirit.  You  have  no  power  to  amend  the  Charter ;  the 
power  is  theirs,  and  if  they  refuse  what  is  necessary  to  accomplish 
perfect  reform,  they  make  the  crimes  of  those  now  invested  with  the 
local  government  their  crimes,  and  thus  give  to  reform  a  wider  thea- 
tre for  action.  But  if  you  demand  from  them  ouly  what  is  right,  and 
show  tha4  you  will  submit  to  nothing  that  is  wrong,  they  will  be  with 
you  in  the  effort,  and  entitle  themselves  to  the  warmest  blessings. 


AY*KY 


